Twenty-four-year-old Elsa is a nurse who misses belonging and being wanted. Depressed and frustrated with the woman she has become, Elsa desperately wishes for someone to enter her life who needs her. One night while at work, her wish comes true as she holds the dead body of an abandoned newborn boy named Chance.

As Elsa prepares the baby for the morgue, he revives in her arms. The event is deemed a miracle, but Elsa soon discovers a paradox: she must be within twenty-three feet of Chance at all times or he will die again. When she reluctantly takes custody, Elsa's dark world is suddenly transformed by motherhood. With help from new and old friends, her small community, and a vigilant doctor, Elsa learns what it means to survive and sacrifice, all while trying to remain detached. As the years grow so does the permitted distance between Chance and Elsa. But when Chance matures into a teenager and meets Juliette, he makes a wish of his own that changes everything once again.

Life by Chance shares the poignant tale of a young nurse and an abandoned newborn boy as their lives intertwine and the power of a mother's love forever alters their destinies.