A teenage girl navigates strained relationships with her mother and brother and grief for the father she barely knew in post-World War II Chicago.

The last time Rosalie Hastings was happy, she was a child. Together with her parents and older brother Sean, she had an idyllic childhood in New York City—until her father was killed in action in World War II. After receiving the terrible news two days before Christmas, the family moves to Chicago.

1950. Summer. Rosalie, now sixteen, is more isolated than ever after her brother's marriage to his longtime girlfriend. Exploring a dormant interest in writing, she joins the school paper, developing feelings for the editor-in-chief. As the Christmas season approaches, and with it, painful memories of the family’s loss, her mother withdraws dangerously into the past. Meanwhile, as Sean’s marriage unravels, Rosalie becomes more determined to cement her family’s legacy and her own complicated grief.