Where the Heart Lives

Miranda Jones has run away from home.

The privileged daughter of wealthy parents, she’s struck a blow for freedom by listening to her heart, a choice her sister, parents and artist’s rep neither approve nor understand. Now that she’s heard what her heart whispered, she finds herself where her heart led.

But as she settles in this new place on the physical map, how can she keep her spot on the professional map? How can she re-map the course of her emotional life? Will the heart prove a better navigator than the head?

California’s Central Coast is growing exponentially.

Now, in the mid-1990s, tourism is up, but so are environmental regulations. Housing is on the rise, but so are water restrictions. Gambling is restricted, but the Chumash tribe lobbies for gaming. The stock market is booming, the upwardly mobile are pouring out of Los Angeles in search of a fresh start, or a weekend getaway. In these affluent, pre-911 days, it’s a time of infinite possibilities.

Milford-Haven is a town full of characters.

Escapees from San Francisco and Los Angeles, New York and Arkansas, Montreal and South Africa, have come here with their own hopes and expectations, agendas and shadowed pasts. The stakes are high: create a new life from scratch. The opportunities are dazzling: own a piece of the California dream. It’s a town of buried and a dangerous mystery, quaint shops and breathtaking vistas, peaceful solitude and spontaneous conversations. Wherever they’ve come from, people are drawn here by their hearts—they know there’s something they’ve always wanted to find. And if not here . . . where? Come discover for yourself . . . Where the Heart Lives.