“A deeply moving story!” This is what Isa, a publishing assistant in Paris, declares after reading a manuscript by Matthias Lacroix, an author as promising as he is elusive. The only way to meet him is to go to his home in the Haute-Savoie region of the French Alps. But when she gets there, she is baffled by the cold reception she receives from the handsome young man. She quickly understands why. He is not the one who sent her the manuscript, and he doesn’t want to hear about getting it published.

Isa soon understands that the characters in the novel are a mirror image of Matthias and his ailing father, whom his son is helping on the road to recovery. She gets to know the author’s family and learns that she has much in common with him, some of it quite painful. She even finds love with one of his friends, who will become her true family.

The death of Matthias’ father and the greed of her publishing company lead her to leave everything behind and settle in Haute-Savoie and create her own publishing house, whose first publication will be Matthias’ tale.