A dark streak begins for Emily Wilson, once the luckiest girl in New York. A creative crisis, cool relations with her relatives, and then her husband’s betrayal force Emily to leave the metropolis and go to Bainbridge Island to her great-aunt Bee. There, wild violets grow near the house, and the ocean seems to froth right by the porch. On the island, Emily meets the charismatic Jack, who tells her a funny story about how, as a child, he wasn’t allowed to come too close to her house. But it seems Bee isn’t too happy about their meeting… Emily doesn’t get any explanations from her, but soon she finds a diary dated 1943 belonging to a certain Esther Johnson; its entries shed light on the strange behavior of the locals and change Emily’s view of the island she has loved since childhood.