During the summer of 1941, sixteen year old Ruby Hicks and her parents traveled to California where Ruby was to be Maid of Honor in her cousin Cora's wedding. The moment she glimpsed Cora's handsome fiance, Tim, she was smitten. Though she knew it could never be, Ruby continued to dream of the impossible love after her return to North Carolina. On December 7, 1941, each of their lives changed forever. Tim enlisted in the army. Upon graduation, Ruby did too. Through wars, marriages, childbirth, illnesses and deaths, the years passed quickly. During her darkest moments, Ruby returned in dreams to that bittersweet, long-ago summer and the love that would not die.