Mary Dixon comes to soul retrieval late, in mid-life. She has crosses to bear: her family history is steeped in mental illness and abuse, and she must navigate mires of addiction and legions of gnawing regrets to finally reclaim her self. Soul Retrieval begins in present-day, with the chapter "The Coming of the Ship" (an ode and homage to Kahlil Gibran's masterpiece, The Prophet). Mary is riding a train in France, on her way to a writing residency. She doesn't speak the language and can't find her seat. A conductor offers her a spot to sit in between railcars. As the French landscape rolls by, she pulls out a copy of The Prophet. She treasured the book as a youth and has not read it in decades. Page after page, she grows more and more transfixed by its profundity and beauty. She sees how her story inter-weaves with the greater story of humanity. She is flooded with hope, and at the same time feels shame for not knowing this sooner.

She has an epiphany: she is only as lost as she chooses to be. Tears of awe on her cheeks, she recalls and travels and traces the stories of her lifetime. Her intense yearning to become whole again opens the way. She begins to locate her forgotten voice, and edge toward her truth.