The Portrait

Charles Mackenzie "Charlie" Taylor, a 49-year-old entrepreneur, stands in San Francisco's Grace Cathedral at the funeral of his father, Patrick Taylor, the 85-year-old patriarch and longtime chairman of Golden State Bank, founded by Patrick's grandfather. Patrick was a cold, austere man who never approved of his son. Charlie, a Princeton and Harvard Business School graduate, rejected the family banking tradition to build his own fortune through a delivery startup and then a global healthy fast-food empire. Out of duty, he reluctantly promised his dying father he would take over as chairman of the board.

Charlie's personal life is equally hollow. During a drunken weekend in Las Vegas while in graduate school, he impulsively married Faye, a law student five years his senior. The marriage deteriorated within its first year, but when Faye became pregnant, they stayed together. Their son, Liam, now 22 and a Yale graduate, was raised largely by nannies. When Liam left for boarding school, Charlie and Faye acknowledged the marriage was dead but agreed to remain together, arguing that divorce would be costly and inconvenient. They live as strangers under one roof in Atherton.

In New York on business, Charlie attends a gallery opening for the renowned portrait artist Devon Darcy at the urging of his Harvard Business School friend Ted Baker. In the crush at the entrance, Charlie is pressed against a woman with red hair and striking green eyes. Their gaze locks, and he feels an overwhelming connection. Inside, her paintings stun him: Each portrait seems to breathe, revealing its subject's inner life. Charlie resolves to commission a portrait as a pretext to see Devon again.

Devon, 42, lives alone in a West Village townhouse. Classically trained at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, she paints prominent figures through her gallery, Kingsley Stone, on Madison Avenue. Her life has been shaped by catastrophic loss. Her parents died in a building fire when she was five, and she was raised in Paris by her maternal grandmother. Devon married a fellow art student, Jean-Louis, at 22 and had a son, Axel, a year later. Jean-Louis was killed by a bus when Axel was three. Two years later, Axel contracted meningitis and died within 12 hours. Alone at 28, Devon moved to New York and rebuilt her career over 14 years, channeling her grief into her art.

Charlie pursues Devon persistently, and she reluctantly agrees to coffee. They meet at a Village café and talk for two hours with surprising ease. Charlie tells Devon about his cold father and his mother's death when he was 13, opening up with an ease he has never experienced. Devon agrees to paint his portrait in January.

That summer, Charlie brings Liam to East Hampton after rescuing him from a hospital in Normandy following a broken ankle. Father and son grow closer than ever. Liam confides that he wants to defer Yale to study landscape architecture in France. Charlie, remembering how his own father crushed his dreams, gives Liam his blessing and honestly explains why his marriage failed.

At a local bookshop, Charlie bumps into Devon, who spends summers painting nearby. After Liam leaves, their connection deepens. Over dinner, Charlie discloses that he is legally married but insists the marriage has been dead for years. Devon responds with compassion, sharing that she was widowed at 26 and has not been seriously involved since. They spend their first night together.

Charlie then flies to California without contacting Devon for seven days. She relives every loss and tells him never to call again. After persistent efforts, he convinces her to meet on the beach, where she reveals the loss she had kept hidden: Axel's death. They slowly rebuild trust, spending Labor Day weekend on his sailboat. Devon photographs him at the helm. They part at summer's end, promising to stay connected.

Through the fall, the time difference and demanding schedules erode communication. Charlie's internal conflict intensifies: He loves Devon but is terrified of emotional attachment, a fear rooted in losing his mother at 13. He never visits New York.

When Liam cannot come home for Thanksgiving, Charlie spends the holiday week with Devon. She cooks a Thanksgiving turkey and folds the napkins into swans, unlocking a buried memory of Charlie's mother, who did the same thing. Overwhelmed by her warmth, he tells her she is the most perfect woman he has ever known.

On the flight home, terror seizes him. Devon's resemblance to his mother convinces him she, too, will be taken from him. For a month, he reads Devon's increasingly worried messages but cannot respond. Devon concludes he has abandoned her. In desperation, Charlie nearly seeks a sexual encounter with a stranger at a bar but stops himself and calls Adam Stein, his boyhood friend and lawyer. Adam tells him bluntly that Devon is not his mother, that he is not 13, and that his choices are a real life with a woman who loves him or a loveless existence.

Devon's December commission, a portrait of the famous movie star Brandon Yates, provides rare comic relief. Brandon arrives with a giant bullmastiff named Thornton and catches Devon crying several times.

On Christmas Day, Faye announces she wants a divorce. Charlie agrees it is long overdue. He tries calling Devon but hangs up. Days later, the gallery returns his payment, canceling the portrait commission.

That same day, Devon finishes Brandon's portrait and, while cleaning her brushes with a caustic industrial solution, trips. The chemical splashes into her eyes, causing severe alkali burns and instant loss of sight. Paramedics rush her to NYU hospital, where doctors warn that permanent blindness is possible. Devon refuses to contact Charlie, unwilling to use her injury to win his sympathy.

Edward Stone, her gallerist, takes charge of Devon's care, visiting almost daily. Weeks pass with minimal improvement. When Brandon accidentally discovers her condition, he locates Wendy, a retired guide dog. On Valentine's Day, Edward and Brandon bring Wendy into Devon's hospital room. As Devon looks at the dog, she perceives its shape for the first time in weeks, then Brandon's outline, then Edward's.

Devon's recovery is slow but steady. By the end of March, she can see again, though her doctors limit her to three hours of painting daily. Meanwhile, Charlie sells his house, his fast-food empire, and finalizes his divorce.

Home from the hospital, Devon discovers the photographs she took of Charlie on his sailboat and paints his portrait, capturing the joy in his expression. She finishes in late June and ships it to his bank with a note saying she owed him one for the cancellation. Charlie is stunned. On his way to the Hamptons, he stops at Devon's townhouse, where a handyman reveals she was hospitalized for months after a terrible accident and lost her sight before recovering.

Walking the beach at sunset in East Hampton, Charlie sees a woman running with an enormous dog and recognizes Devon as she draws near. He tells her he owes her an apology. Devon says she is fine and that her old ghosts are at peace. Charlie shares his news: the divorce, the sold business, the new house. Devon reflects that the things people fear most usually do not happen, and when they do, people survive them. Charlie acknowledges he was a coward; Devon says he was human. He invites her for a glass of wine, takes her hand, and they run down the beach together, laughing, with Wendy following them.