When Rossandra White walks into her Laguna Beach home one day to find that her husband of twenty-five years has disappeared--leaving behind only a cryptic, hastily written note on the kitchen counter as an explanation--she knows he'll come back. It's not the first time this has happened, and she trusts that their marriage, though tumultuous, will endure. But she soon learns that this time is different--and as new information comes to light, she realizes that the cracks in their relationship may have deepened past the point of repair. ; In the midst of this turmoil, White's physically and mentally disabled younger brother needs her help. She returns to South Africa, land of her birth, to answer his call--and when she comes back to California, she finds that her dog Sweetpea, who for years has served as a vital emotional link between herself and her husband, has begun to succumb to a fatal illness. Ultimately, it is this core-rattling confluence of crises that forces White to face her own demons and make a decision: stay in a marriage that's crumbling before her eyes, or leave her husband and forge a new life for herself.