In 1913 Dorset, Rose Pendelton finds a fierce, secret love with Alastair Croft, a blacksmith's apprentice who dreams of the sea. Their golden summer is shattered by the outbreak of World War I. Alastair enlists, promising to return by Christmas. His hopeful letters from the trenches grow scarce, replaced by haunting silence. Rose, heartbroken, volunteers at a hospital, tending to broken soldiers. When she receives the final, official notification of his death, Rose is left to endure with a shattered future and a love that remains tragically steadfast.
