Daniel Gallagher has a secret too big for an eight-year-old to bear. But his mother is afraid to hear it. And so, they live in an uneasy chaos of lies and half-truths until the day that a chance encounter brings Daniel into the life of eighty-one-year-old Sadie Gordon. Sadie is a survivor of Stalinist Russia, who spends her twilight years tending her garden and trying to remember her daughter-in-law's name. What could Sadie and Daniel possibly have in common, except the knowledge that they will soon be embarking on a journey into eternity.