Three hard-hearted mountaineers snatch college freshman Kellie Kidler and fifteen-year-old twins Ann and Nan Furman, haul them away to an isolated shack, and keep them captive for ten years, using beatings and the loss of fingers as deterrents to escape. The three Millham women survive mainly by caring for the baby they delivered to a dying mother the night of their capture. Their story is doled out as they struggle to fit back into their former lives with a mingling of shame, romance, and humor. Kellie, especially, struggles with her Christian conviction to forgive the Millham man who stole ten years of her life.