At the reading of her beloved father's will, Kate, a divorced French professor, learns of his affaire de coeur during World War II with a French artist named Emilie, to whom he has left a substantial bequest. Kate, stunned to discover the existence of this woman who captivated her father, is determined to unravel the mystery of his past and unearth the truth.

Though Emilie has passed away, her daughter Yvette sends a box of her mother's keepsakes from the war that are even more unnerving - among them a dried flower, a photograph, two smooth stones, and a train ticket. With the help of a long-hidden memoir Kate begins to see the significance of these items that create the picture of a father she thought she knew.

Kate wonders about her parents' marriage. After the war had he abandoned passion for honor? Did he really love her mother, or was he compelled to marry her out of his sense of duty? How well did she really know her father? Or her mother? When more secrets are revealed in the final pages of the memoir, she embarks on a journey to the south of France to reconcile the past and confront her own demons, as well as the legacy of her father's wartime love affair and the price he paid to live an honorable life.

Kate's life is changed forever...