Damaris Kelly is a beautiful eighteen-year-old girl from the small Midwest town of Linn, Missouri, located between the two great cities of Kansas City and St. Louis.

After the tragic events that happened to her parents three years previously, she wins the $960 million lottery jackpot. Poverty no longer an issue, she goes on a frenetic spending spree, fulfilling her once-thwarted longing for spending money. She gives generously to the city of Linn as well as her talented musician brother, Bryan.

To escape the excessive media attention, she books a four-month around-the-world voyage on the Queen Mary 2 ocean liner, where she meets a mysterious older gentleman and his friend who become her traveling companions. They show her not only the world as it is during the twenty-two port stops but the beautiful reality of the unseen world. Along the way, she encounters danger in the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia and learns of the evil, crime, hopelessness, and poverty abounding in the world's largest and wealthiest cities. She learns the essence of true love and is forced to make extremely painful decisions. One lesson she learns is that, no matter how great the wealth, tragedy is often its silent partner.