On a warm May night in San Francisco, the Ritz-Carlton ballroom shimmers as a glittering, celebrity-studded crowd gathers for a charity dinner dance. The evening is perfect-until, just minutes before midnight, the room begins to sway….

In the earthquake's aftermath, the lives of four strangers will converge.… Sarah Sloane, the wife of a financial whiz, watches her perfect world fall to pieces…. Grammy-winning singer Melanie Free comes to a turning point in her life and career…. Photographer Everett Carson finds new purpose amid the carnage…and Sister Maggie Kent, a nun who works with the homeless, searches through the rubble-and knows that there is much to be done….

As the city staggers back to life, a chain reaction of extraordinary events will touch each of the survivors…. Sarah discovers a crime and a betrayal, then a strength she never knew she had. Volunteering at a refugee camp opens new worlds of possibility for Melanie. Everett will forge an unlikely relationship with Maggie, who helps him rebuild his shattered life-and upends her own in the process. And as a year passes each discovers the unexpected gifts in a tragedy's wake…and the amazing grace of new beginnings.

Throughout these enthralling pages, Danielle Steel creates a stunning array of contrasts -from the dazzle of a society benefit to the chaos of a makeshift hospital, from the pampered lives of rock stars to the quiet heroism of emergency volunteers. It is her most powerful and life-affirming novel to date.