The seaside town of Gloucester, Massachusetts is a place where the smell of the ocean lingers in the air and the rocky coast glistens in the Atlantic sunshine. When longtime Gloucester resident Kathleen Levine is diagnosed with breast cancer, her life is thrown into turmoil. Frightened and burdened by secrets, she meets Joyce Tabachnik - a freelance writer with literary aspirations - and a once-in-a-lifetime friendship is born. Joyce has just bought a small house in Gloucester, where she hopes to write as well as vacation with her family. Like Kathleen, Joyce is at a fragile place in her life.

A mutual love for books, humor, and the beauty of the natural world brings the two women together. They share their personal histories, and help each other to confront scars left by old emotional wounds.