When sixteen-year-old gymnast Kay Clancy finds herself pregnant by the handsome Coach Halliwell, she tells a lie that has dire consequences. Despite her transgressions, she manages to marry the young Joe LeBlanc, and embarks on a happy life with him until suddenly, late in Kay's third pregnancy, he vanishes, along with his treasured canoe. Joe is nowhere to be found, but his paddle surfaces near a dock in front of the Halliwell home, where the coach lives with his manic but fragile wife, Marie, and their son, Eddie. Years on, Margar, the mischievous daughter Joe never knew, is determined to find her father. Time and again she is drawn to that house by the river. What Margar discovers there will change forever the way she views her family.