In late 1994, former physicist Donovan Matheson returns to his hometown to live in the house he abandoned almost thirty years ago following the deaths of his wife and then eleven year old daughter, Jasmine Matheson and Magnolia Matheson respectively, in a car accident caused by Christopher Bailey, an underage driver who stole a car for a joyride. Donovan, who focused his work on cold fusion, believes he is at fault for their deaths as he believes he could have saved them if not for other things in his life, including his excessive drinking which has only worsened in his grief. The house had been kept up by Donovan's friend, police sergeant Finnley Boyd, who Donovan had only sporadically kept in touch with in the intervening years. Although not clear why he moved back, Donovan comes to believe, in a sense of déjà vu, that the purpose of his return ultimately is to save an eleven year old girl he meets, Maggie Walgrave, in his constant encounters with her, her bookstore owner mother Sarah Walgrave, and Sarah's mechanic brother Kit, an alcoholic who too has just recently returned to town. That family too had just suffered a loss when Sarah's husband/Maggie's father, Jason Walgrave, the owner of the garage where Kit works, was killed in chasing someone - that person unknown and not apprehended - who broke into the garage. As Donovan begins further to believe that his purpose is tied to premonitions he had exactly thirty years ago to the second but at the time did not understand what those visions meant, he begins to alienate Finn as well as Sarah, the former who believes Donovan is solely trying to justify the painful things that have happened in his life. But as Donovan tries to place all the pieces of the puzzle together, he believes it is all meant to come to a head exactly thirty years following Jasmine and Magnolia's deaths.