"I don't think anyone who falls in love has a choice. You're just pulled to that person like true north, whether it's good for you or bound to break your heart." Jodi Picoult

Anna Bennett, who's run afoul of a professor while pursuing her Ph.D., marries a fellow graduate student and moves west with him, leaving her dreams of a career teaching at a university behind. Repackaging herself as a communications manager, she begins working in a small Idaho museum.

Her husband's career takes them to Albuquerque, where Anna completes a Ph.D. in communications management and begins work as an editor. Her husband's infidelity rocks her comfortable world and sends her on a journey that will take her to San Miguel de Allende in Mexico, where she rethinks her life and marriage.

Returning to Albuquerque, Anna searches for a job that will keep her close enough to her children to see them regularly. After landing a job as communications manager for the Los Alamos National Laborarory, Anna begins an affair of her own—one that will change her life.