The place is the back deck and beach of David's island home.
David deals with his grief by continuing his romance with Gillian during walks with her "ghost" on the beach at night.
While David lives in the past, other family problems crop up in the present in the real world.
She has lost her mother and needs her father to snap back into the real world and help her.
In 1996, it was produced as a film by Sony Pictures and starred Peter Gallagher, Claire Danes, Kathy Baker, Wendy Crewson, Freddie Prinze Jr., Seth Green, and Michelle Pfeiffer as Gillian.