On his way to see his son, Sam, for the first time in years, former war reporter Henri Skinner is badly injured and rendered comatose, reliving the fairytales of his childhood in an endless dream. In this novel by the author of The Little Paris Bookshop, Sam—a 13-year old synesthete with a genius IQ—waits by his father's bedside every day. There he meets Eddie Tomlin, a woman forced to confront her love for Henri after all these years, and 12-year-old Madelyn Zeidler, a coma patient like Henri and the sole survivor of a traffic accident. As these four very different individuals fight—for hope, for patience, for life—they are bound together, facing loss and love side by side.