On the edge of the American wilderness, eight-year-old Imogen, guided by a vision she doesn't understand, leads the rescue searchers to the drowned body of her brother while his best friend, Connla, looks on. Nearly thirty years later, in another country, the tragic mystery of her brother's death still haunts her. Living alone, painting the heart-stopping beauty of the landscape around her, she fills the void at the centre of her life with precious glimpses of wild creatures.
Nearly 4,000 miles away, Connla also shuns the world of men in a cabin in the wilderness, capturing its secrets on film just as Imogen captures them on canvas. Then newspaper reports of sightings of a rare animal set him off on a trail that will bring the two together at last. But only when the truth about their childhood tragedy is revealed can their wounded hearts begin to heal. And not before another mysterious vision has called up the distant past and averted tragedy once more.