Most of us wonder what our lives would have been like if we had taken another path and made different choices. Susannah Nelson has a wonderful husband, two nearly grown kids, and a teaching career, but ever since her father's death, she has been vaguely unsettled. Never on especially good terms with him, she has always believed that he had a hand in running off her first love.
Now her mother seems to be failing mentally. Susannah's husband encourages her to visit her mother, possibly settle her into an assisted-living facility, and try to shake off her depression. He has no idea that Susannah can't stop thinking about her lost love, Jake, and intends to find out why he left her. When she arrives in Colville from Seattle, Susannah discovers her mother is much worse than she imagined. Her inquiry into the road not taken reveals shocking truths about her family and, most importantly, herself.