A plane crash resulting from an act of terrorism kills everyone on board; the wife of the pilot subsequently discovers that her husband was leading a double life.

In portraying the ultimate marital betrayal along with the large-scale tragedy and disaster of a plane crash, Shreve touches public nerves on both a personal and global level. The title character Kathryn's stages in uncovering the truth about her husband and, in the process, of discovering what caused the plane crash humanize a seemingly sensational event and raise uneasy questions about limits of marital trust.

The novel opens at the moment that Kathryn's life changes; not only does life as she has known it explode as she is notified of her husband's death, but her perception of her marriage begins to disintegrate. The plane crash, at first rumored to be caused by pilot error or mechanical failure, soon...