Summary

The story opens with a Prologue. This section is set in Drummadrochit, February 28, 1942. A woman named Mairi was visiting a grave in the cemetery. The headstone had two names. The first was Agnes Mairi Grant, infant daughter of Angus and Mairi Grant. Her date of death was January 14, 1942. The second name was Capt. Angus Duncan Grant, beloved husband of Mairi. His date of death was listed only as January, 1942. The exact date was unknown. Mairi went to the grave every day and had watched as the earth flattened.

Willie the Postie, the local postman, had delivered the telegram that announced to Mairi that Angus was missing, and presumed dead. She'd gotten the telegram on Valentine's Day. Mairi realized that Angus had been dead for weeks by the time she got the word. He might have even died on the same day her...