The process was messier than she had anticipated, a mixture of tears and runny noses and dirt and ash, but that was perfectly appropriate. Life when lived, truly lived, was messy.

After a series of life-changing events, fifty-seven-year-old Key North breaks with her usual conventional, acquiescing nature and impulsively purchases a house situated above a patch of woods in rural North Carolina. The move surprises everyone, even herself, and irritates her possessive friend Iris.

Key's just getting acquainted with this change when she's visited by her cousin Guy, whom she hasn't heard from in nearly a decade. With him comes a shocking and difficult challenge, one she's not sure she's equipped to handle.

As Key slowly unravels the many complexities that accompany her decision, she finds herself far from her former predictable, unfulfilled life. It's as though she's stepped into an alternate world where a little boy's backpack holds dangerous secrets, an unseen hand is guiding her, and the trees provide the answers she seeks.