Beth Cappadora, mother of three, young and creative, will need every bit of inner strength she can find to overcome the loss of Ben. Her refusal to believe he is dead is replaced by the belief that he is dead, causing conflict with the grandparents and other members of the extended family. In Publishers Weekly, Beth is described as retreating "into an emotionless, fugue-like state, in which she neglects her surviving two children—oldest child Vincent and baby daughter, Kerry—and seals herself off from her husband, Pat." Beth simply cannot forgive herself. She is convinced that Ben is gone because of her disorganized, careless, and uncaring attitude, an attitude that allows her to take her life and children for granted.

Ten years after the day Ben disappeared, Beth looks back on the events and knows her impairment was a deliberate choice, not a temporary fog...