Matt Fowler is a doctor practicing in his native Maine and is married to New York born Ruth Fowler, a choral music teacher. Their only child, Frank, home from school for the summer, is working as a part-time lobsterman to earn money for graduate school in the fall. He is involved in a love affair with a local single mother, Natalie. As the beauty of Maine's brief and fleeting summer comes to an end, these characters find themselves in the midst of unimaginable woe as Frank's relationship ends in tragedy. Subsequently, Frank's parents are forced to negotiate their way through their evolving response to their loss.