Kassie's life had been hard and unnecessarily so. Her parents divorced when she was a girl, as a result her father took her little brother to live with him and left her with her mother. Her mother became remarried to a man who tried his hardest to seduce Kassie when she was thirteen. By fourteen her mother had thrown her out of the house leaving Kassie to fend for herself. She learned a lesson on the streets that prepared her for life in a way that no one and nothing else could.
In college, she met the man that she thought would be the love of her life and for a while he was. As their careers took off, she was faced with the cold reality of his infidelities, including a child outside of their married. This crushing blow caused her to lose the child she was carrying and brought about the end of her marriage.
Broken, Kassie leaves the luxury apartment she shared with her ex-husband and moves to an upscale neighborhood in Elgin, Illinois. It's here where she meets the man who quickly becomes the game changer.
Timothy Baron is a laid back, carefree, ladies man. He's been divorced for a few years now from his college sweetheart and has a daughter. When Kassie moves in next door he instantly notices her but their first encounter goes less in the way of friendly and more in the way of outright offensive.
The saying 'Love thy neighbor' goes out the window as they spend a year bumping heads. But things change when Kassie and Timothy's Irish Terrier Griffin develop a bond. She also develops a bond with Timothy's daughter, Natalie, who is a big fan of Kassie's work as an illustrator.
Slowly Kassie's wall begins to crumble as her feelings for Tim begin to grow. She starts to see the handsome musician as less of an annoyance and more like someone she could love.
The blinders melt away for Tim too as Kassie's rudeness toward him becomes more kind. When he finds out who she is and what she does for a living he is intrigued and it makes him want to know more about her. Kassie isn't very forthcoming about herself or her past. Tim is determined understand her but the more layers he peels back, the more he realizes why she was so rude and nasty to him and he feels sorry for her.
As they become friends and their feelings change, can they see past their rough start and give in to what is so evident between them? Or will Kassie's fear of pain and reject cause her to shut herself off from ever letting him in?