After the death of her brother Thomas twelve years ago, young lawyer Emily and her estranged playwright father are finally starting to feel as if they are picking up the pieces. However, when Emily decides to host her wedding on the very spot where her brother died, scenes from the past burst forth into both her and her father's heads as they try to accept Thomas's death. We travel with them through the last years of Thomas's life: through adultery and other nefarious acts, as both of them begin to acknowledge what had really happened that cold October night. This novel brings about a strong sense of the power of family, and shows that, though we sometimes would like to, we can never be completely forget the past.