when twentysomething new yorker rebecca strand learns her fathers deathbed confession that she has a twentysixyearold halfsister she never knew existed she cant wait to meet her with her lawyer boyfriends protests ringing in her ears shes just going to want her share of his milliondollar estate rebecca drives to a small coastal town in maine with the 26 letters her father wrote to joy every year on her birthday all alone in the world rebecca knocks on joy jayhawks door having no idea what to expectturns out joy the separated mother of a little boy rebecca has a nephew isnt very interested in the father who turned his back on her existence from day oneor her sister but rebecca is so determined to establish family bonds with joy that she doesnt go home and finds herself being welcomed into small life by some very loveable quirky characters including a sexy carpenter named theo