Ceelie was only able to endure cancer, and the losses that came afterward, with the support of her elderly friend Darlene. When Darlene's prognosis turns dire, Ceelie can't refuse her seemingly impossible request: to find her long-lost father, WWII paratrooper Cal. The search leads Ceelie to Normandy, where she encounters the harrowing tale of the hero who dropped off-target into Nazi-occupied France. The novel alternates between Ceelie's search and the story of the two French sisters who rescued Cal.