Adam Kellas, journalist, would-be thriller novelist, and failed lover lives in a world that is cracking apart. Divorced, unstable, and in the middle of life, Kellas is teetering toward self-destruction. He reluctantly accepts a London newspaper assignment to cover post-9/11 operations in the remote Afghan mountains. There he becomes smitten by Astrid Walsh, a tough, self-possessed American reporter. The two share a passionate night in a watchtower near a defunct airfield, and soon after Astrid disappears from Kellas's life.

A year later, following a disastrous and violent evening at a dinner party in London where he destroys his closest remaining friendships, Kellas receives a short, beseeching e-mail and hastily embarks on a strange trans-Atlantic journey that leads him to a tiny town near the Chesapeake Bay where he believes Astrid waits for him. Kellas plans a new life with a lover who is his only glimmer of hope, but who may be harboring unsettling secrets of her own.