

Renee Rainsdorf had been with her lawyer boyfriend Owen Tadd for five years. He canceled their wedding fifty-two times—always for the same reason: his intern, Vanessa. The first time, he left Renee waiting alone on the beach all day. The second, he bolted mid-ceremony. After that, every wedding attempt was derailed by yet another "emergency" involving Vanessa. On the fifty-second try, Owen abandoned Renee yet again—this time for Vanessa's sprained ankle. That was the breaking point. Renee finally walked away, packed up, and left Ainsley for good. But the day she left, Owen frantically searched for her everywhere. Back in her hometown of Carverton, Renee rebuilt her life from scratch and rose to become a top lawyer. Owen, however, fell apart without her—his career collapsed, Vanessa bled him dry, and he ended up right back where he started. Five years later, Renee stood at the scene of her old wounds—and smiled toward the future.

Three years ago, an earthquake struck. Lydia's husband and son died saving everyone in their building. Their neighbor Eleanor gradually forgot their sacrifice in the years that followed. For three years, Lydia has quietly honored her loved ones' memory, while Eleanor has come to see Lydia as a symbol of bad luck. Now Eleanor's son Marcus is about to hold his wedding. Lydia decides to make everyone understand in her own striking way that honoring the departed is honoring life itself, and that remembering an act of kindness keeps warmth alive in people's hearts.

In a devastating fire, a stepmother and her stepdaughter become trapped in an elevator, and Evelyn sacrifices her life in a desperate attempt to save Heidi. Unbeknownst to her husband, Vincent Clarke, Evelyn's tragic death occurs while he stands by the side of Heidi's biological mother, Fiona Lawson. Grief-stricken, Heidi cries out, "I only have one mother, her name is Evelyn Glover!"