Roya visits the Stationery Shop in Tehran and meets a charming young man named Bahman Aslan.

Bahman takes Roya to a political demonstration where a Shah supporter wounds him with a sword.

Bahman proposes to Roya after a date and they plan to marry by the end of summer.

Badri Aslan storms out in fury when Bahman and Roya announce their engagement at the Aslan family home.

After the engagement party, Bahman vanishes without explanation, leaving Roya desperate and unable to find him anywhere.

Badri calls Roya to announce Bahman is marrying Shahla, and a letter from Bahman confirms the engagement is over.

Roya waits at Sepah Square for Bahman, who never appears, and Mr. Fakhri is shot and killed in the chaos.

Roya and her sister Zari leave Tehran and immigrate to the United States to attend a women's college in California.

Roya meets a cheerful American man named Walter Archer at a California café and begins spending time with him.

Walter proposes to Roya, she accepts, they marry, and they move to Boston for his law school.

Roya gives birth to a baby girl named Marigold, who stops breathing and dies in the hospital at one year old.

Roya stumbles upon a stationery shop run by Omid and learns that Omid is Bahman's son and Bahman lives nearby.

Roya secretly visits Bahman at the Duxton Senior Center and immediately feels the love she had for him as a teenager rush back.

Bahman's condition suddenly worsens and Roya races to his side, lying with him and kissing him until he dies.

Nurse Claire gives Roya a blue tin that Bahman left for her, filled with all the letters Roya once wrote to him.

Roya meets Bahman at the Stationery Shop in Tehran and the two quickly fall in love despite political unrest and his family's fierce opposition. After becoming engaged, Bahman disappears and their plans to elope at Sepah Square are shattered by the 1953 coup, leaving Roya heartbroken and Mr. Fakhri dead in the chaos. Believing Bahman abandoned her for Shahla, Roya immigrates to the United States, marries a kind American named Walter, and suffers the devastating loss of her infant daughter Marigold. Decades later, Roya discovers Bahman is living nearby through his son's stationery shop and arranges a secret reunion at a senior care center. At the Duxton Senior Center, Roya and Bahman rediscover that their love never faded, but the reunion is cut short when Bahman's health rapidly collapses. Roya stays by his side until he dies and afterward receives a tin of her own old letters he had kept for a lifetime.

The core love story from first meeting to final farewell.

Roya visits the Duxton Senior Center for the first time alongside her husband Walter, parting ways once inside.

Mr. Fakhri warns Roya that Bahman's political aspirations could put her in serious danger.

Zari warns Roya that getting involved with political types like Bahman is a mistake she will regret.

Bahman gives Roya a book to write her own poetry and takes her to the elegant Café Ghanadi.

Roya's parents enthusiastically welcome Bahman and give their blessing for the couple to marry.

Badri makes a scene at the engagement party, publicly berating Mr. Fakhri for helping match Bahman with Roya.

Mr. Fakhri hides love letters from Bahman inside books at the Stationery Shop for Roya to secretly find.

A letter from Bahman announces he is coming out of hiding and wants Roya to meet him at the square so they can elope.

The Stationery Shop and surrounding neighborhood are engulfed in flames following the successful coup.

Roya spends the days after the coup in anguish, mourning Bahman, Mr. Fakhri, and the burned-down shop.

A flashback reveals that young Mr. Fakhri fell in love with Badri but abandoned her to honor his family's arranged marriage.

Roya invites Walter to her boardinghouse and cooks a traditional Persian meal, sharing her cultural identity with him for the first time.

Roya cooks a simple American meat loaf for Patricia's visit, deliberately concealing her Persian culinary identity from her critical sister-in-law.

Roya has a second child named Kyle, who brings her great joy and becomes the center of her world.

At Bahman's funeral, Roya is stunned when the minister reads a Rumi poem she and Bahman once shared as young lovers.

Before Roya and Bahman's romance blossoms, warnings from Mr. Fakhri and Roya's sister Zari signal the dangers ahead, which Roya chooses to ignore as she falls deeper in love. Their courtship deepens through shared books and café visits, while Bahman's family continues to oppose the match and Badri causes a public scene at the engagement party. The 1953 coup destroys the Stationery Shop and leaves Roya in prolonged grief, setting the stage for her decision to leave Iran entirely. In America, Roya navigates her dual identity through small acts like cooking Persian meals for Walter and concealing her heritage from his disapproving sister-in-law Patricia. She eventually rebuilds her life and finds unexpected joy in a second child named Kyle after years of sorrow. At Bahman's funeral, the unexpected reading of a Rumi poem the young lovers once shared crystallizes how deeply their past still lives within her.

The supporting events and relationships that shaped Roya's journey.

Bahman draws Roya into a conversation about poetry at the Stationery Shop, sparking the beginning of their romance.

After a date to the cinema and a walk, Roya kisses Bahman to accept his marriage proposal.

Bahman admits that Shahla is the girl his mother wants him to marry after Roya notices Shahla watching them at a café.

Bahman reveals to Roya that his mother Badri has a mental illness, assuring her it will not end their engagement.

During a night out with friends, Bahman confesses to Roya that he fears the plans to overthrow Mossadegh will endanger him.

A formal letter from Bahman arrives apologizing for broken promises and announcing he must step away from their relationship.

Roya is overwhelmed with grief and shock on the flight from Tehran, realizing how far she is traveling from home.

Bahman writes Roya a letter revealing he married Shahla, had twin children, and waited for Roya at the square.

Roya fails to find laboratory work despite months of searching and reluctantly accepts a secretarial position at Harvard.

Bahman's letter describes the devastating political violence in Tehran and reveals that his closest friend Jahangir has been killed.

Roya searches online for Bahman and confirms he is a patient at the Duxton Senior Center, her hands trembling.

Roya decides to visit Bahman without telling Walter, planning the secret trip while her husband is out fetching groceries.

Bahman insists to Roya that he waited at Baharestan Square, not Sepah Square, suggesting that someone altered their letters.

Bahman's letter reveals that Badri held a knife to Mr. Fakhri's throat and stabbed herself in the neck to stop the engagement.

Sitting alone after Bahman's funeral, Roya reflects on her entire life and realizes how deeply she loves Walter.

Roya and Bahman's romance ignites through a conversation about poetry, deepens through a kiss and a proposal, and grows complicated when Bahman reveals his mother's mental illness and his fear of political violence. Their engagement is undone by a formal goodbye letter from Bahman, sending Roya on a grief-stricken flight away from everything she knew. In America, Roya suffers quiet setbacks — a failed laboratory career, years of longing — while Bahman's letters reveal parallel losses: a loveless marriage, political terror, and the death of his closest friend. A chance online search leads Roya to Bahman's doorstep, and she makes the pivotal decision to visit him in secret. During their reunion, Bahman's insistence that he waited at a different square forces Roya to confront the possibility that their separation was engineered, a truth confirmed by his devastating letter detailing Badri's violent interference and Mr. Fakhri's role. The novel closes with Roya sitting alone after Bahman's funeral, reconciling her two lives and recognizing how much she loves the man she built a life with.