What Anne Marie Roche wants is to find happiness again. At thirty-eight, she's childless, a recent widow, alone. She owns a successful bookstore on Seattle's Blossom Street, but despite her accomplishments, there's a feeling of emptiness.

On Valentine's Day, Anne Marie and several other widows get together to celebrate...a sense of hope. They each begin a list of twenty wishes--including things they'd always wanted to do but never did.

Some of the items on Anne Marie's list: learning to knit, falling in love again, doing good for someone else. When she volunteers at a local school, an eight-year-old girl named Ellen enters her life. It's a relationship that becomes far more involving--and far more important--than Anne Marie had ever imagined.

As Ellen helps Anne Marie complete her list, they both learn that wishes can come true...but not necessarily in the way you expect