Four years after dropping out of Harlem society, David McKay returns home, devastated by the inexplicable suicide of his sister Lilian-and unnerved to learn that she had married in his absence, and that her husband is now claiming ownership of the family home. And as he becomes immersed in unraveling the mystery of Lilian's secretive behavior, traveling from the wealthy salons of Renaissance Harlem to the crowded tenements of its poorest inhabitants, David also finds himself confronted by his own crippling secret-one that could redeem him, or destroy him...