"Lisa Power is a tortured ghost of her former self. The author of a bestselling thriller called Thief River Falls, named after her rural Minnesota hometown, Lisa is secluded in her remote house as she struggles with the loss of her entire family: a series of tragedies she calls the "Dark Star." Then a nameless runaway boy shows up at her door with a terrifying story - he's just escaped death after witnessing a brutal murder - a crime the police want...

A man remembers a girl, Grace, from his childhood, and details how she, a runaway that he cared for, came to be his first kiss and his first love over the course of one life changing winter.