On the way home from dinner one night in suburban Boston, Malcolm Vaughn is shot and killed by a stranger. His eight-year-old son, Harry, watches it happen. His wife, Sarah, holds Malcolm in her arms as he bleeds to death in the street.So begins a story of a group of people so undone by shock and grief that they lose their way in the world of the living. Sarah, a research scientist at a prestigious university, refuses to return to work and drags her heels getting Harry back to school. Malcolm's best friend, Deckard Jones, tries to help them through the crisis, but he's having one of his own: Malcolm's death has triggered memories of his tour in Vietnam. Meanwhile, Harry appears to have come through the loss unscathed, but Deckard thinks there's something much too smooth about the boy's good-little-soldier routine.Sarah, locked inside her own despair, is a widow first, a mother second. She wearies of Deckard's constant advice, on everything from how best to handle the police to the proper way to care for Harry. Too often she meets Deekard's good intentions with anger, a conflict that threatens to estrange them. When a painful discovery reveals to Sarah the depth of Harry's trouble, she is prompted to make an impulsive decision about their future that goes against the better judgment of everyone - including herself. Read Less