[1] Young Veronica (“Ronnie”) Swan's idyllic life in her Mormon community of Cedar City, Utah is shattered when her two younger sisters, Becky and Ruthie, are brutally murdered by a man named Scott Early while Ronnie is babysitting for them.
Amid mass media attention, a remorseful Early is diagnosed with schizophrenia and sent to a state mental hospital, where his condition is increasingly tempered by medication and therapy.
Ronnie's parents, guided by their faith, decide they must forgive Early to find closure, and visit him in the hospital.
She moves to San Diego, California to become an EMT, adopts a new identity, and manages to become the nanny to Early's infant daughter Juliet, considering but ultimately abandoning the idea of revenge.
Publishers Weekly called Cage of Stars "sweet and solid," noting the "considerable emotional depth" Ronnie develops throughout the story.