At the beginning of the last century, young Lillian, engineer Carter and policeman Simmons meet on an ocean liner, tracking Carter down to arrest him on murder charges. Suddenly , all three find themselves on lifebuoys in the open ocean...
A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.
In a suburban landscape, the lives of several families interlace with loss, despair and personal crisis. Esther Gold has lost focus on all but caring for her comatose son, Paul, and neglects her daughter and husband. Lawyer Jim Train is devoted to his career, not his family. Helen Christianson wants to find a new spark in life, while Annette Jennings tries to rebuild hers.