Geesje de Jonge crossed the ocean at age seventeen with her parents and a small group of immigrants from the Netherlands to settle in the Michigan wilderness. Fifty years later, in 1897, she's asked to write a memoir of her early experiences as the town celebrates its anniversary. Reluctantly at first, she soon uncovers memories and emotions hidden all these years, including the story of her one true love. At the nearby Hotel Ottawa Resort, 23-year-old Anna Nicholson is trying to recover from a broken engagement. She begins having nightmares of being aboard a steamship during a violent storm, and begins to question who she is and whether she wants to return to her privileged life in Chicago. Neither Geesje nor Anna, who are different in every possible way, can foresee the life-altering revelations awaiting them before the summer ends.