After a brutal Queens childhood and several struggling decades, MEGHAN JOYCE, 30s, has finally attained a fulfilling job and an ideal lover: the wryly eloquent corporate executive, THOMAS CATHERTON LOCKHART, an Englishman in his early 40s. On their first anniversary, however, Thomas announces he wants nothing further to do with her. Devastated, Meghan soon discovers that Thomas is targeted for assassination-his attempt to break up was only to protect her, and the depths of his life were very different from its apparent surface. Thomas works a predatory multinational mining corporation, run by a charming sociopath, LOCKE MURDOCK. To protect an indigenous tribe whose island has been targeted for development, Thomas has embezzled a large sum of money to give to the tribe in their fight for independence. Meghan, determined to save her lover's life, tries to flee New York with Thomas. Everywhere the desperate couple turns, they find the Murdock's well-financed killers lying in wait. Having exhausted all alternatives, Meghan engineers an intricate rescue plan. When her scheme goes awry, it shatters the lives of an innocent young chef, GIL DE LEO, and his devoted friend, BARBARA ANDERSON. The events Meghan has set in motion, however, have startling and unforeseen repercussions far beyond her and Thomas's apparent tragedy. Windswept ultimately illustrates that the basest deeds can be redeemed by selfless sacrifice.