While jogging in Central Park, 22-year-old Mary Godwin, an investigative journalist with Manhattan Magazine, is observed by sadistic and angry veteran Howard Peters. Upbeat and energetic, Mary will need to tap every ounce of strength to survive Peters and other traumatic events that threaten to destroy her.
When a terrorist takes over the top floor of the Freedom Tower, Mary and others are taken hostage. She survives the ordeal, but not before witnessing the murder of an innocent woman. After the terrorist is captured, anti-terrorist intelligence agent Gary Marston encourages her to interview the terrorist.
Peters watches Mary speak at a news conference. Looking for a target for his unresolved anger, he chooses Mary as his next victim.
Mary returns home in a traumatized haze, longing for the comfort of her fiancé, Percy Shelley, a successful Broadway songwriter. Instead, Mary suffers a second blow when she discovers him with another woman. Humiliated and distraught, Mary calls off the engagement and moves back to her parents' luxurious East Side townhouse.
Peters holds a grudge against his former U.S. Army unit commander in Afghanistan, Theodore Rosefield, a great grandson of an American president with the same name. Rosefield, a congressman in Manhattan, discharged Peters for disgraceful conduct.
Mary has bad nightmares and spirals into depression. When her best friend Gwen Peabody comes down from Boston to comfort her, she accepts Gwen's invitation to return to Boston. They have a romantic interlude there.
Mary returns to New York to give testimony to a grand jury. She has a disturbing altercation with her stalker near the courthouse.
Frazzled, she is assigned an article about facial recognition software. Gary helps her look through street camera footage for the stalker. Their working association turns romantic.
Peters has several altercations with Congressman Rosefield. His bodyguard warns Peters to stay away from his employer. A scuffle ensues, and a shot fired hits Rosefield. During an interrogation, Peters assaults Gary. Peters is sentenced to one year in prison.
Mary becomes her happy, upbeat self. She and Gary are in love. They run into Percy Shelley in Maine.
Gary wants to make sure Mary is safe when Peters is released. But everything goes sideways when Peters kidnaps Gary. Mary goes looking for him, only to find herself trapped with Gary, staring death in the face yet again.
Who survives? Who dies?
Two months pass. Mary is being treated for severe depression. She has an important breakthrough with her therapist at the very end.
