The Deal Breaker incorporates a cast of colorful characters who work in and love The Carriage House restaurant, a long-established, fine-dining establishment in New York State. When The House burns as a result of arson, the staff is horrified and full of questions, but none more so than Kitty Cunningham, The House's bartender, and the debonair maitre'd/part owner, Tommy Defalco, whose smooth, charismatic personality conceals serious flaws. Tommy operates The House under a series of rules he calls "Deals," one of which he breaks himself when he falls in love with Kitty and pulls her into a dark and mysterious lifestyle with his past lover, Lillian Mondale, who owns the local country club, and her partner, renowned surgeon John Vassar. Mildred Vassar, John's wife, is a regular at the Carriage House, and she knows all too well about her husband's nefarious side business. She becomes concerned when she learns that her two favorite friends, Kitty and Tommy, are dangerously close to her husband. Suspecting that their lives are in peril, she whisks them off to her Palm Beach Villa, the last place she believes her husband or Lillian will ever look for them. It is there, however, that Kitty and Tommy discover each other's secrets--and their lives are changed forever. The Deal Breaker is story of love, hate, treachery, betrayal, lust, greed, and redemption, as the storyline takes the human condition full circle and teaches some hard but vital lessons.
