After her husband Ben's tragic death at the age of 36, Gina Melrose becomes a "live-aboard" on his boat. Docked at a South Carolina marina, a grieving Gina settles into a strange, temporary, borrowed existence. But this stillness is dramatically shattered late one night when Ben's ex-wife, Reese, disrupts Gina's world of quiet isolation.
With Reese, once described by Ben as "a wild child", comes her daughter: an enigmatic little girl called Angel. After a horrendous start, Gina realizes that, strange as it may seem, she's drawn to both Reese and Angel. As both pain and joy re-enter her world for the first time since Ben's death, Gina takes tentative steps towards the land of the living. This tender, poignant novel movingly explores the resilience of hope and the meaning of family.