After the sudden death of her parents in an accident in 2012, Claire Kirkland, a young New York artist, finds in the files of her mother, Valerie, a detailed account of her experience of being marooned for a year on a remote Indonesian island with another woman. Claire sends the papers to her cousin for inclusion in a family history he is preparing; she doubts they will be of much interest to anyone outside the family. Part One of the story...