Fate is conspiring against lawyer Anton Swann. First his grandmother dies, then he hits the worst traffic of his life on the way home from her funeral, keeping him from friends in London and possibly a much longed-for sighting of his ex. And finally the detour he thought would save him time ends with the electrics failing on his car, leaving Anton to trudge through heavy rain back to an old cottage he d passed along the way, hoping to find help.

What he finds instead is the mysterious Dr. Stephen Miller, a man fighting his own battles. Anton is invited inside to join the tail end of an...