Ever since her husband's death, anxiety has pitched its tent in the mind of thirty-two-year-old interior designer Olivia Houston. Weary of the tyranny of the urgent, she longs for quiet and welcomes the invitation to update her cousin's 1950s cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina.

On a jog to the tip of neighboring Bird Island, Olivia discovers the mysterious Kindred Spirit mailbox. Planted in the dunes decades earlier by a young couple, the box contains journals with visitors' entries-as well as an item that plunges Olivia into a search for the family of WW2 Sergeant Walter Larsen.

While at the Kindred Spirit, Olivia collides with Chase Evans, a deep-sea charter boat captain with a circuit-breaker smile, whom Olivia soon recruits to assist with her search. Their shared pursuit takes them far beyond the sands of Sunset Beach and well outside the borders of their hearts.

What will future visits to the Kindred Spirit mailbox hold for Olivia? Will her Sunset Beach sabbatical bring the healing and peace she seeks or compound her heartbreak and loss?