Twin sisters Tabitha and Harper Frost, who have been at odds for years, are forced together in the wake of a family crisis and reevaluate the resentments that drove them apart.

Set in the rich farmland of California's Salinas Valley, this sprawling and often brutal novel follows the intertwined destinies of two families -- the Trasks and the Hamiltons -- whose generations helplessly reenact the fall of Adam and Eve and the poisonous rivalry of Cain and Abel.

"Fraternal twin brothers Peter and Michael McDowell have spent a lifetime competing for success and affection before that competition turned into an all-out war and made the brothers mortal enemies. While both Peter and Michael have grown into successful adults, they never managed to leave behind the animosity that took root in their childhood. With the collapse of his career and his marriage, Peter sees no other option than to move into the lake...

"Cal has always lived in the shadow of his brother, Frank, a complicated narcissist who was doted upon by their mother and beloved by the girls in their hometown-including Cal's own girlfriends. In an attempt to escape Frank's insidious presence, Cal pursues a different kind of freedom in the world's wild spaces, prospecting for gold and precious minerals everywhere from the heat of the desert at the Mexican border to the Alaskan chill to the suffocating...