Angel Falls

Angel Falls (2000) is a contemporary romance novel by Kristin Hannah. A prolific and popular author of numerous New York Times bestsellers, including Winter Garden and Firefly Lane, Hannah often writes about complex family relationships, love, and loss. In Angel Falls, a woman experiences a traumatic brain injury that leaves her in a coma, after which her husband discovers that she was previously married to a world-famous movie star. The novel explores themes like True Love as a Conscious Choice, Family Crisis as a Catalyst for Growth, and Reintegrating Past Selves Into a Coherent Identity.

This guide refers to the 2011 Ballantine Books Trade Paperback edition.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, emotional abuse, racism, and addiction.

Plot Summary

Mikaela Campbell lives with her husband, a doctor named Liam; her 16-year-old daughter, Jacey; and her nine-year-old son, Bret, in the small town of Last Bend, Washington. One day, Bret saddles Mikaela’s horse, Silver Bullet, to prove that he is old enough for an overnight trail ride. Impressed, Mikaela agrees but first decides to work the horse over a few jumps in their barn’s arena. The horse throws her, and she strikes her head on a wooden post, falling into a coma. Liam and Jacey rush to her side before she is taken to the hospital.

The family gathers at the Ian Campbell Medical Center, which was named for Liam’s famous late father, who also founded the town. There, Liam learns from the chief of neurology, Dr. Stephen Penn, that Mikaela’s condition is critical and her prognosis uncertain. As he waits, Liam reflects on his past, his decision to become a doctor, and his return to Last Bend, where he first met and fell in love with Mikaela. As he struggles to explain the current situation to his children, Bret begins regressing by sucking his thumb. Later, back at the house, Liam’s attempt to cook dinner for Bret fails.

Liam calls Mikaela’s mother, Rosa Luna, who immediately drives across the state to help. While praying, Rosa reflects on her own past with a painful love affair and worries that Mikaela has made similar mistakes. At the hospital, Rosa is shaken by her daughter’s appearance and urges Liam to talk to Mikaela, believing that a mixture of love, fond memories, and faith in God can guide her back to consciousness.

After Mikaela begins breathing on her own, she is moved from the intensive care unit (ICU) to a private room. Bret, frustrated and scared, acts out by writing on the waiting room wall. Liam begins a bedside vigil, recounting his memories of how he and Mikaela met.

Four weeks pass with no change in Mikaela’s condition. On their 10th wedding anniversary, Liam brings her a photo album and a gift of plane tickets to Paris. Jacey brings an anniversary cake to the hospital and talks about the upcoming winter dance, for which Mikaela had been excited to help her prepare. Meanwhile, Bret gets into a fight at school after a classmate named Billy McAllister calls his mother a “vegetable.”

While searching through Mikaela’s closet for a dress for Jacey to wear to the dance, Liam discovers a hidden silk pillowcase hanging in a garment bag. Inside are old photographs, newspaper clippings, and a large diamond wedding ring. He is devastated to learn that his wife was once married to the world-famous movie star, Julian True, and he cannot believe that she has kept this fact a secret from him.

At the hospital, Liam confronts his unconscious wife with the discovery, and when he says Julian True’s name aloud, Mikaela blinks. Though the doctors dismiss this response as a reflex, Liam convinces Rosa to recount Mikaela’s past relationship with Julian at her bedside. As Rosa tells the story of the pair’s passionate romance and painful breakup, Mikaela begins to cry in her sleep, and Dr. Penn confirms that her coma is receding. Days later, Mikaela experiences a brief cardiac arrest. Fearing that he is losing her, Liam makes a desperate decision to find and call Julian True, believing that the voice of Mikaela’s former husband is the only thing that might wake her.

The narrative shifts to Julian, a successful but jaded superstar living in Beverly Hills. When he receives Liam’s message, he is flooded with memories of Mikaela, his first and only true love, whom he called Kayla. He agrees to fly to Last Bend, and upon his arrival, he checks into a bed-and-breakfast, then goes to the hospital and briefly meets Liam, who still does not reveal that he is now married to Mikaela. That night, when he meets with Liam again at a bowling alley, the two men agree not to tell Jacey that Julian is her biological father.

The next day, at Julian’s bed-and-breakfast, the movie star is swarmed by teenage fans, one of whom is Jacey. Stunned by her resemblance to Mikaela, he recognizes the girl as his daughter. However, in accordance with his agreement with Liam, he conceals this fact from her and claims to be in town to support the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Later, Liam angrily confronts Julian for recklessly making contact with Jacey, and the two men agree to keep the truth of Jacey’s parentage hidden from her for now.

As they keep a vigil at Mikaela’s bedside, a series of flashbacks reveals glimpses of Julian’s past relationship with Mikaela. Years ago, after their first initial fling, Julian returned to his glamorous Hollywood life but found himself missing her even when he had sex with other women. He went back to the diner, where the young Mikaela was working at the time, and admitted all of this to her just before proposing. She accepted, and the new couple soon had a daughter together. However, Julian kept taking drugs and engaging in the fast life of Hollywood rather than spending time with his new family, so Mikaela decided to leave him in order to protect her child.

In the narrative present, Mikaela soon wakes up, but she is diagnosed with retrograde amnesia. Because she has lost 15 years of memory, she recognizes Julian but not Liam, and she believes that Jacey is still a baby. Even when she understands that she has amnesia, she assumes that she and Julian have spent the last 15 years together. She questions Julian, asking him how long it took for him to come after her when she left him. A heartbroken Julian tells her the truth: that he never returned for her after she left him, and that this is the first time he has seen her since that day. Meanwhile, Julian’s agent, Val Lightner, leaks the sensational story to the national media, who descend on Last Bend.

The media circus leads to a crisis. Val reveals that Julian’s daughter is a cheerleader at the local high school, and reporters ambush Jacey after practice, publicly revealing that Julian True is her biological father. Liam rescues a traumatized Jacey from the situation and confirms the truth. At school, Bret learns from a teacher that his mother is awake. When Liam and Jacey bring him to the hospital, he rushes to see his mom, but when Mikaela fails to recognize him, Bret runs away, heartbroken. Hours later, Liam finds Bret shivering and hiding in a barn at the county fairgrounds.

Meanwhile, Mikaela has a dream in which a red-haired boy calls her “Mommy,” and when she awakens, she has recovered the memory of her son, Bret. Soon, her memories of her life with Liam and the children also begin to return in fragments. Rosa gives her a scrapbook of photos, which helps Mikaela to piece together her forgotten years and confront her past choices. She realizes that her feelings for Julian were an obsession, while her love for Liam is deep and real, even if she had taken it for granted before her accident.

Liam explains Mikaela’s amnesia to Bret and Jacey, and the three of them reaffirm their family bond. Mikaela reconciles with her children, apologizing for keeping secrets that caused them pain. She then confronts Julian, telling him that their own story is in the past and that she loves Liam now. Julian accepts this with regret, asks her to give her old wedding ring to Jacey, and agrees to inform the press that the “fairy tale” is over. He then leaves town.

Mikaela returns home to find Liam sitting at the piano. Liam, who studied music before he became a doctor, has been unable to play the piano since the accident. She tells him that she remembers everything and professes her deep and complete love for him, acknowledging that she had foolishly held onto her obsession with Julian for too long. She now understands that true love is not a “brushfire passion” (376); it is the solid foundation they built together. Believing her at last, Liam finds the heart to play his music again. He plays their song, and they reaffirm their love for each other.