Hugh and Laura Walker could never have anticipated that the single greatest source of joy in their lives could so suddenly fill them with such unrelenting grief. The death of their only child, seven-year-old Michael - struck by a car just seconds after stepping off his school bus - has left them stranded in a sea of sorrow. With no emotional compass to guide them, the Walkers retreat to an old cottage located near Cape May, New Jersey, where, separated from the daily reminders of their numbing loss, they hope to reenter the world of the living. Their struggle emerges as both a profound meditation on the nature of grief and a riveting reminder that there is no safe haven from the black sea of being a parent. Over the course of one very long day, we share with Hugh and Laura Walker all the haunting emotions that race through their hearts as they attempt to piece their lives together. Lurking just below their sanity and resolve are memories - of afternoons spent making angels in the snow with Michael, of the simple joy they once felt in watching their son roll down a hill, and finally of the slow-motion and unnervingly surreal stream of events accompanying their son's fatal accident. As Laura seeks the kindness and guidance of a new neighbor while Hugh navigates a minefield of well-intentioned coworkers at his New Jersey office, it becomes chillingly apparent that loss has loosened the once solid foundation of the Walkers' marriage. Further threatening their precarious union is a secret Laura harbors - a secret essential to her self-preservation, and which could destroy all she and Hugh have ever been to each other.