On a wind-swept summer day, as the fog rolls across the San Francisco coastline, a solitary figure walks down the beach, a dog at her side. At eleven, Pip Mackenzie's young life has already been touched by tragedy; nine months before, a terrible accident plunged her mother Ophelie into inconsolable grief. But on this chilly July afternoon, Pip meets artist Matt Bowles, who offers to teach the girl to draw - and can't help but notice her beautiful, lonely mother.

Matt Bowles senses something magical about Pip, who reminds him of his own daughter at that age, before a bitter divorce tore his family apart and swept his children halfway across the world. At first, Ophelie is thrown off-balance by her daughter's new companion - until she realizes how much joy he is bringing into their lives, so that mother and daughter can slowly begin to heal, to laugh again, to rediscover what they have lost.

Then fate strikes another blow, and Matt must confront unfinished business from his past. Days later, Ophelie is struck by a stunning betrayal by someone she trusts. And as these events reverberate in two already wounded hearts, something extraordinary happens that offers hope. Out of the darkness that has shadowed them both comes an unexpected gift of hope.