Once a year for half a century, a man and a woman have been meeting at the gazebo in the square of small town in upstate New York. Martin Rayfiel and Claire Swift long ago married other people, yet they have remained faithful to their vow to love each other always. When Martin, now a handsome elderly man, walks into the office of the town newspaper and tries to tell his tale to young editor Abby Reston, she is too busy to listen.
But the next day, Abby finds herself drawn to the gazebo to watch for the annual arrival of Martin and Claire. They don't come, but Abby finds a briefcase that Martin left behind for her. In it, in photographs, papers, tape recordings and mementoes, is the entire astonishing story of Martin and Claire, a love affair that spanned the globe and somehow survived for fifty years. Now it's up to Abby to find out what drove these lovers apart so many years ago, why they continued to meet over the decades, and where they are now.
