Nora receives a phone call that her father Driss has been killed in a hit-and-run and drives home to her mother.

Efraín witnesses the hit-and-run from his bicycle but chooses not to call the police, fearing deportation.

Jeremy visits the Guerraoui mourning household and finds Nora alone on the porch, staying to comfort her.

The Guerraoui family buries Driss in a desert cemetery in a ceremony led by an imam.

The reading of Driss's will reveals he left his entire $250,000 life insurance policy to Nora alone, angering Salma.

Nora discovers her father had an outstanding order for an expensive engagement ring clearly meant for someone else.

A nighttime hike in Hidden Valley ends when Nora and Jeremy share their first kiss.

Coleman spots security cameras on the library eaves and realizes they may have captured the street near the diner.

Coleman identifies Anderson Baker as the driver using the security footage, and Anderson confesses to causing the accident.

Anderson pleads not guilty at his arraignment, and A.J. Baker attempts to shake Nora's hand outside the courthouse.

Nora takes over managing her father's diner full time and refuses to let her mother sell the business.

Efraín gives his formal police statement and reveals the driver appeared to speed up just before the collision.

Fierro shows up uninvited at the cabin at night and Jeremy beats him in a violent fight in front of Nora.

Jeremy pulls A.J. over during a routine traffic stop and arrests him for driving with a suspended license.

Coleman pieces together that A.J. was actually driving the car the night Driss died, and A.J. is later sentenced for manslaughter.

The novel begins with Nora learning that her father Driss has been killed in a hit-and-run outside his California diner. As the family mourns and buries him, the investigation crawls forward until a security camera near the library captures the crucial evidence. Detective Coleman identifies Anderson Baker as the driver, but Anderson claims the death was purely accidental. When Anderson's son A.J. is later arrested during a routine traffic stop, Coleman connects him to the crime and realizes he was the true killer. The case reaches its conclusion when A.J. is sentenced for manslaughter, bringing a measure of justice to the Guerraoui family and closing a grief-stricken chapter in all their lives.

The core mystery of Driss's death and its resolution.

Jeremy hears about Driss's hit-and-run during his morning shift briefing and notices the Guerraoui name on the active cases list.

Salma arrives at the family home with her husband Tareq and twin children to mourn alongside Nora and Maryam.

Efraín and his wife Marisela read a newspaper article about the hit-and-run and discuss leaving an anonymous tip.

Jeremy bails Fierro out of jail after Fierro smashed up his ex-wife's car in a destructive rage.

Nora meets Jeremy at McLean's bar, where the two reconnect and she realizes she has begun to flirt with him.

Coleman interviews Anderson Baker at his bowling alley, which sits directly next to the Guerraoui family diner.

Maryam decides to reopen the diner for business, returning to the restaurant to support staff who depend on it.

Jeremy and Fierro reluctantly attend an anger management support group together at a local community center.

Nora cries silently in the cabin bathroom after sleeping with Jeremy for the first time, and he holds her until dawn.

Nora finds a threatening handwritten parking note from Anderson hidden among the files in the diner's back office.

Coleman invites her son Miles's friend Brandon to dinner and grows convinced that Miles has romantic feelings for him.

Nora wanders into the bowling alley next door and encounters A.J. Baker, who tries to show her how to bowl.

Maryam cleans out the desert cabin during Ramadan while reflecting on Driss having brought Beatrice there.

Nora attends the Silverwood Music Center program in Boston and faces repeated subtle but damaging incidents of racism.

A.J. Baker racially abuses Coleman directly to her face while being held in a jail cell after his arrest.

Away from the central investigation, the lives of those connected to Driss's death unfold in telling detail. Jeremy reconnects with Nora after years apart while his troubled friend Fierro struggles with the fallout from military service and a failed marriage. The undocumented witness Efraín reads about the hit-and-run with his wife but wrestles with whether he can afford to come forward. Detective Coleman juggles the limitations of her new department while navigating her son Miles's emotional life. Through scenes at a bar, a bowling alley, and across the small desert town, these secondary moments reveal the hidden textures of a community shaped by grief, race, and the weight of what remains unsaid.

The supporting characters and subplots that surround the investigation.

Maryam describes the night she searched the house for Driss and police arrived late to deliver news of his death.

Nora recalls how the family's donut shop was burned down in a racially motivated arson attack after the September 11th attacks.

Driss's flashback reveals he was shot at by police during political violence in Morocco, beginning his path toward emigration.

Maryam reveals she lied to Driss about the severity of a police threat in order to convince him to emigrate to America.

Driss's flashback reveals his affair with Beatrice and his conviction that he had spent his life with the wrong companion.

Nora visits Coleman and discovers the detective already knew about Driss's affair from text messages found on his phone.

Efraín begins dreaming of Driss every night and blames his daily misfortunes on his guilt over staying silent.

Jeremy and Nora sleep together for the first time at the desert cabin, deepening their romantic relationship.

Salma's secret pill addiction is revealed as she grows increasingly dependent on Vicodin taken from her dental practice.

Coleman calls Nora to report that a witness has come forward with the first solid piece of evidence in the case.

Jeremy whispers his most traumatic memories of the Iraq war to Nora as they lie together in the dark.

Driss's final flashback reveals he planned to ask Maryam for a divorce that very night before walking to his car.

Nora appears at Jeremy's apartment after months apart and the two reconcile their broken relationship.

Nora reveals her father's affair to Maryam during their drive home, and Maryam admits she has always known.

Nora moves back to the desert permanently and has a baby with Jeremy, finding the home she always searched for.

Beneath the surface of the hit-and-run investigation lies a series of revelations that transform how every character understands themselves and those they love. Flashbacks reveal that Driss fled Morocco after witnessing political violence and that Maryam used deception to engineer the family's emigration. Nora learns her father was having an affair and had been planning to divorce her mother in the very days before his death. Her relationship with Jeremy deepens as he opens up about his war trauma, though the violence of his past eventually drives them apart before a reconciliation brings them back together. By the novel's end, long-kept secrets are finally spoken aloud, and the characters must decide what kind of lives to build from the wreckage of grief and hidden truth.