A dying widower, a cowboy, and the paintings that bind two love stories together.
Who drives the story
A ninety-one-year-old widower trapped in a wrecked car, kept alive by conversations with the ghost of his wife Ruth. He must hold on long enough to finish one last act of love: passing their art collection to someone who will cherish it.
Ira's late wife, an art student turned schoolteacher with an uncanny eye for paintings. Dead before the story begins, she appears to Ira in the snow, urging him to stay awake and remember.
A Wake Forest senior majoring in art history, freshly burned by a cheating ex. She falls for a bull rider, fears losing him, and ends up inheriting a lifetime's worth of art because she held a dying stranger's hand.
A young professional bull rider from King, North Carolina, risking brain and spine to save his family's ranch from debt. He wins his final ride, proposes to Sophia, and never climbs on a bull again.
Sophia's ex, a fraternity brother whose cheating ended their two-year relationship. He shows up at a diner to call Luke a dumb cowboy and gets banished for good.
Also in the story
Luke's widowed mother, wary of rodeo because of his earlier head injury and dependent on him to keep the ranch solvent. She confirms the foreclosure threat Luke hid from Sophia.
How they are connected
A ninety-one-year-old widower trapped in a wrecked car, kept alive by conversations with the ghost of his wife Ruth.
He wins his final ride, proposes to Sophia, and never climbs on a bull again.
Luke's widowed mother, wary of rodeo because of his earlier head injury and dependent on him to keep the ranch solvent.
She confirms the foreclosure threat Luke hid from Sophia.
Sophia's ex, a fraternity brother whose cheating ended their two-year relationship.
He shows up at a diner to call Luke a dumb cowboy and gets banished for good.
Go deeper
Love across a lifetime · Risk and what it costs · Legacy without heirs · Secrets and protection
Themes explainedThe full story act by act, the ending explained and a quick quiz.
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