Two months after the death of her best friend Harlan, Lucy remains haunted by the thigns she never told him, including her deep love for him. Then she begins receiving e-mails he'd arranged to be sent after his death, e-mails that will change the course of her life. one e-mail in particular haunts her—one in which he tells her that he is certain she is destined for motherhood. So begins her watershed year. It is said that out of despair comes hope, and in her grief, Lucy finds that the possibility of adopting a child offers them both new beginngs. When she travels to Russia to meet four-year-old Mat, she sees in him a soul that is as lonely and lost as hers. Slowly they learn to trust one antohr, and each begins healing. It is when Mat's father comes to America to reclaim his child that a truth about Mat's past is revealed, a truth that might shatter Lucy's fragile little family forever.