Grace is a beautiful, troubled woman, a mystery viewable only by the reflections of others. Central to the novel is the revelation of her story by others - her alcoholic husband David, her friends, her sister, her lover, and her colleagues at the hospital where she is a physician's assistant. Their reflections disclose how she has drifted from both her first love and her calling as a researcher. As her marriage unravels, Grace's life fragments. She's attacked and injured by a drug-addled patient, her father appears to be failing mentally, and her daughter is injured. When she learns that Colter, the man she ran from as an eighteen year old, has become critically ill with cancer, her path clarifies. She leaves her husband and returns to her home town to reconnect with her true loves - Colter and science. Her strength of character is needed as David becomes violent over the divorce and separation from his children. She fights to keep Colter alive and learns from him how to live mindfully.