When Anna Starling flees a dissolving marriage in California to save herself and her artistic career in Cape Breton, her life intersects with that of Red Murdock, a cabinetmaker who has recently lost the great love of his life, Rosaire. Surrounded by old ghosts and echoes of those who once lived in this isolated, now depleted community, Anna and Murdock discover that the present is inextricably linked with the past, and that both can lead to moral dilemmas.