Jane had spent years trying to make it in Los Angeles as a screenwriter, sacrificing sleep, a personal life, and a steady paycheck to pursue her dreams. But after she discovers that her first produced script has been turned into a film that's completely unrecognizable from her original story, Jane buckles under the pressure of disappointment and dashed expectations. She packs her life up into her eighties-vintage Toyota Corolla and leaves Los Angeles, bound for home in Vermont. She stops for the night on an uninhabited stretch of highway in the open desert, waking the next morning to find that her car has broken down beyond repair. With only a half bottle of water and the last penny in her pocket, she tries to escape her desperate situation. In the process, she discovers a couple's box of mementos buried in the desert sand a hundred years before. She learns of their love and strength in the face of a tragic loss and in so doing renews her spirit and sense of purpose.