At 30, Nicholas Straite, A New Yorker, is the American dream. He has a medical degree, and a penthouse on Park Avenue. Nicholas also has a lover: Dr. Anne Rosenberg, 14 years older. Still, he pines for a woman whose love he lost almost a decade earlier.

At 19, Elena Pereira, a middle class girl from Aguas Mansas, Puerto Rico, arrives in New York to follow a dream. She wants to become the first woman in her family to graduate college. But then she meets Nicholas, her soul mate.

The sparks between them is undeniable. Elena wants him ... fears him ... pushes Nicholas away, unaware of the reason he inspires conflicting emotions in her. Against all odds, he wins her heart. He appears to come to terms with his loss, but something seems wrong.

In the storm that their relationship becomes, Elena turns to Katí Amilsudhir, a gifted Cuban psychic who aspires to become a santera. What Elena discovers will turn her life upside down as she finds out she and Nicholas must either break the abusive patterns in their relationship or part for good.

Kati isn't surprised. She knows what’s ahead for these lovers. But even she can’t foresee the room that hides a tragedy in Nicholas’ life. Instead, she warns: “Beware of a house on stilts.”

When Nicholas’ room yields its mystery, Elena finds herself at a crossroad. Stay and he gets what he wants: control over her. Return to her native Puerto Rico and she takes with her a secret of her own. Things might change if she is honest, but is she willing to pay the cost?

Her decision sets in motion events she couldn’t have foreseen. Lives are shattered and rebuilt in the face of evil. But as Katí predicts, the blood in the house on stilts frees Elena to love again.