Joanne's panic attacks took a back seat to what looked like a promising future. She enrolled in a night class where she reconnected with Donna, her best friend from childhood. Through this relationship, she met Donna's husband, Steve, and his childhood friend, Anthony. The foursome became so close they did almost everything together. Eventually Joanne and Anthony married, and she was finally going to live the American dream.

The happiness of a good marriage, owning a new home, and having her best friend and her husband live in the apartment downstairs, soon became an illusion. Joanne and her husband were social drinkers who went over the line and became alcoholics. They believed they had it under control until they were devastatingly shocked to find that Donna was killed in the apartment below them. Joanne vowed to give up drinking, so she could testify in court. Her husband's recovery was much slower, although he got the help he needed. Once they got their life back on track, tragedy struck yet again.

After dealing with so much tragedy, there was one more obstacle she needed to overcome, and that was trying to have her best friend's killer put back in prison when he was released on parole.

Throughout it all, even when she felt she couldn't manage, her inner strength prevailed, along with the help of a stranger who believed in her.

When the Vow Breaks is a work of fiction, written by the author of Crossing the Bridge. It is also about real life problems and one woman's determination to confront hardships, head-on, that life has thrown her way.