Recently returned to Lake Erie, Ontario, to study the migratory patterns of the monarch butterfly, entomologist Liz Crane moves into her family's now-deserted farmhouse. Casting a shadow over her life is the recent death of her cousin, Amanda Butler, a gifted military strategist killed in Afghanistan, and the disappearance many years earlier of Amanda's charismatic father, irrepressible chronicler of their Irish ancestors, the Butler clan. Liz is also haunted by a deeply buried family secret, by four different, unexpected love affairs, and by the tragic events that ultimately altered all their futures.

In this eloquent and powerful narrative, Jane Urquhart brings to vivid life those fragile patterns from the past that shape who we are. A compelling, intricately crafted novel of family legacies, love and betrayal, by one of Canada's outstanding writers.