American-born Corbeau Rochefort faces harassment as an outsider while attending school in France, avoiding eye contact with everyone, except the young man who smiles whenever they cross paths. Her happiness with the blossoming romance soon fades, disrupted by a brutal assault that leaves Corbeau stunned. Too ashamed to tell anyone, she hides the torment, her soul growing darker with each passing day.

When a crisis with Mr. Rochefort’s employment forces his family to relocate to the United States, Corbeau bids farewell to the Frenchman and descends into a state of depression, made worse by isolation that beleaguers the eighteen-year-old even further. Already nervous in the presence of males, a heinous tragedy leaves her terrified by fire, emotionally fragile and uninspired to move forward with her life until motivated by a fiercely protective aunt. 

Two years older than her fellow freshmen at college, a chance meeting leads to an opportunity for retaliation against those who destroyed her life. Driven by an instinct she can’t resist, Corbeau embarks on a dangerous plan for vengeance, putting herself on a collision course with law enforcement. 

A pair of mentors join her in creating a women’s recovery center, allowing Corbeau to help others as a practitioner of psychology, yet she fails to recognize the need to heal herself. Brainwashed by years of silence and denial, blind to the reason behind her own suffering, Corbeau can’t escape the inner agony that haunts her.