In Emily Wilson’s life, once the luckiest girl in New York, a dark streak begins. 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 Bi, where wild violets grow near the house and the ocean froths 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 get too close to her house. But it seems Bi isn’t very pleased with their meeting… Emily doesn’t get any explanations from her, but soon finds a diary dated 1943 belonging to a certain Esther Johnson. Her entries shed light on the strange behavior of the locals and change Emily’s view of the island she has loved since childhood.