Kenna is released from prison and returns to her hometown determined to meet her four-year-old daughter, Diem.

Kenna enters Ledger's bar and the two strangers are immediately and powerfully drawn to each other.

Kenna gives Ledger a false name and the two share a first kiss before she pulls away in tears.

Ledger discovers who Kenna really is and physically carries her away from the Landry family home.

Ledger coldly tells Kenna she is uninvolved, uncaring, and unworthy, and orders her to leave town.

Scotty's parents secure a restraining order banning Kenna from coming within 500 feet of Diem.

Defeated by the restraining order, Kenna accepts Ledger's offer of money to leave town.

Kenna and Ledger make love for the first time after an emotional conversation about Scotty and the trial.

Kenna reads Ledger the letter she wrote about the night of the accident that killed Scotty.

Ledger confronts Grace and Patrick with the printed accident letter, telling them they are keeping a mother from her child.

After confronting the Landrys with Kenna's letter, Ledger collapses in tears in his mother's arms.

Grace arrives at Kenna's apartment with the antique engagement ring Scotty had planned to give her and offers forgiveness.

Kenna arrives at the Landry home for dinner and meets her daughter Diem for the very first time.

Kenna whispers to Diem that she is her mother, and Diem warmly accepts the revelation.

Kenna, Diem, and Ledger return the wayside cross to the accident site, and Kenna finds she can smile at reminders of Scotty.

Kenna returns to her hometown after five years in prison for the drunk driving accident that killed her boyfriend Scotty, determined to reconnect with their daughter Diem, who is being raised by Scotty's grieving parents. She meets Ledger Ward, Scotty's closest friend and the owner of the local bar, and the two are immediately drawn to each other despite the complicated history between them. Kenna's attempts to approach the Landry family are blocked by Ledger, who initially views her as the heartless monster the town believes her to be. A restraining order and Ledger's offer of money to leave push Kenna to the edge of abandoning her dream of knowing her daughter. The turning point arrives when Kenna reads Ledger her most painful letter, revealing the truth of the accident night and the full depth of her grief. Armed with this truth, Ledger confronts Scotty's mother Grace, who forgives Kenna and finally allows her to meet Diem, setting all their lives on a new course.

Kenna's journey from prison to meeting her daughter.

The landlady Ruth gifts Kenna an unwanted kitten to keep her company in her sparse apartment.

Ledger stops Kenna from leaving the bar and invites her to return after closing, unable to let her walk away.

Ledger chases Kenna outside and the two continue kissing in his truck until a passing cop interrupts them.

Kenna names her kitten Ivy after the compassionate prison mentor who helped her survive her sentence.

Diem asks Ledger about her mother at McDonald's, having been told only that her mother's car is too small to visit.

Kenna finds part-time work as a cashier at a small grocery store, still using the false name Nicole.

Ledger warns Grace to leave the grocery store parking lot when she and Diem arrive while Kenna is on shift.

Kenna collapses sobbing in the parking lot as Grace drives Diem away without stopping.

Ledger shows Kenna videos of Diem on his phone, and Kenna weeps watching her daughter for the first time.

Kenna begins working as a dishwasher at Ledger's bar and learns about his recently broken engagement.

Grace tells Ledger about the restraining order against Kenna after attending Diem's dance recital together.

The restraining order is formally served to Kenna at the grocery store, triggering a panic attack in the bathroom.

Ledger and Kenna visit his unfinished country home and share a kiss on what would have been his wedding day.

Patrick Landry punches Ledger and demands he choose between Kenna and the Landry family.

Ledger decides to sell his country house and stay in his childhood home across the street from Diem.

While Kenna adjusts to life in her hometown, a series of smaller but significant events shape the path toward her reunion with Diem. From the kitten she reluctantly accepts to the grocery store job that keeps her anchored in town, Kenna builds a fragile foothold in a community that largely despises her. Ledger's relationship with Kenna deepens through quietly shared moments, including showing her secret videos of Diem and standing together on what would have been his wedding day. The formal delivery of the restraining order and Diem's dance recital mark the novel's most emotionally crushing stretch, as institutional and personal forces align against Kenna simultaneously. Patrick Landry's violent confrontation with Ledger forces the question of loyalty into the open and demands that Ledger finally choose a side. As these tensions resolve, Ledger quietly commits to the life he has always been building without fully realizing it, one centered on Diem and the people who love her.

The supporting moments that shaped Kenna and Ledger's world.

Kenna stops her cab at the accident site and pulls up the wooden wayside cross before entering town.

Kenna writes Scotty a letter confessing her confused feelings about being kissed by his best friend Ledger.

Roman argues to Ledger that Kenna is responsible for an accidental death of someone she loved, stressing the word accidental.

Kenna spots a hair scrunchie she believes belongs to Diem in Ledger's truck and insists on keeping it.

Kenna reflects on her mother abandoning her at age seven and later refusing to help her from prison.

Ledger drives Kenna home in the rain and admits he regrets their first kiss, leaving her devastated.

Kenna briefly considers kidnapping Diem before recognizing that facing the Landrys directly is the only real path forward.

Roman tells Ledger that if he truly wanted Kenna gone, he could have simply written her a check.

Kenna and Ledger argue about whether she approached him just to get closer to Diem, then he kisses her deeply.

For Mother's Day, Ledger gifts Kenna a playlist of upbeat songs specifically chosen to hold no painful memories.

After Kenna reads him the accident letter, Ledger reveals his anger is directed at how harshly the town treated her, not at her.

Ledger's mother recognizes Kenna and tells Ledger that in a tragedy this size, everyone can be both right and wrong.

Patrick tells Ledger before the dinner that if Ledger believes Kenna is good for Diem, he will trust that judgment.

Grace embraces Kenna at the Landry dinner and tells her they will forgive each other and go forward together.

In the epilogue, Kenna writes to Scotty that she and Ledger have named their newborn son Scotty.

Beneath the main events of Kenna's return lies a series of crucial emotional turning points that define who she truly is and what she must overcome. From her symbolic act of pulling up Scotty's memorial cross to her secret letters confessing guilt and longing, Kenna's inner life drives the story forward in ways the hostile town cannot see. Roman's pivotal argument about the word accidental and Ledger's mother's quiet wisdom begin to shift how Ledger understands Kenna, while Kenna's painful reflections on her own absent mother explain the depths of her desperation to know Diem. The novel's emotional climax arrives not in a dramatic confrontation but in quiet revelations — a Mother's Day playlist, the truth behind Ledger's anger after the letter, and a concession from Patrick that finally opens the door. By the time Kenna writes her last letter to Scotty in the epilogue, announcing the birth of a son named after him, the full arc of grief, guilt, and hard-won grace has reached its hopeful resolution.