In the life of Emily Wilson, once the luckiest girl in New York, a dark streak begins.
Creative crisis, strained relationships with her family, and then the betrayal of her husband force Emily to leave the metropolis and head to Bainbridge Island to her cousin grandmother Bee, in a house next to which wild violets grow, and the ocean foams right at the doorstep.
On the island, Emily meets the charismatic Jack, who tells her a funny story about how he was not allowed to approach her house too closely in childhood.
But it seems Bee is not too pleased with their acquaintance...
Emily receives no explanations from her, but soon finds a diary dated 1943 belonging to someone named Esther Johnson, whose entries shed light on the strange behavior of the locals and change Emily's view of the island she has loved since childhood.
