[2] While Sam and Hadley are thousands of miles apart, waiting for their divorce to come through, they begin to exchange letters.
[3] The letters start out with Sam and Hadley West trying to come to terms with the death of their only child and son Paul.
Sam believes that going to Alaska and taking the dangerous trek by plane and dog sled to see the place where Paul died will help him come to terms with his son's death.
[3] Hadley rents a cottage, haunted by the previous owner, off the coast of Maine in a town called Monhegan.
[4] Hadley chose Monhegan because she felt like she needed to get away and she liked the idea that it was an artist's colony in the summer.
Sam's wife Hadley is on a journey of the soul to rid her of the grief she carries from the death of her only child.