Leatherworker and naturalist Carey Alsch has carved out a life of apathetic solitude in the rugged mountains of 1830's Bavaria. Haunted by an unspoken tragedy and consumed by a deep loneliness, Carey spends his days in the remote wilds, studying animals, tending to his aging hound, and avoiding human contact. The mountains, with their vast silence, are his only companions--as well as his old hound, Treu.

That is, until fate, and the appearance of a pretty stranger in town, sweeps him into the company of a large, boisterous family. Over time, Carey comes to value the friendship they offer and finds himself looking up for the first time in his life.

Through the Reinalzes, Carey meets Nonny Von Stein, a striking young woman who has come to live with them, seemingly abandoning her current life of wealth in the city. Nonny, though gentle and kind, is a mystery to Carey. She seems determined to carve out a new life in Mittenwald but regularly disappears to fulfill strange summons from home. Both working towards the same goal--relinquishing long-held bonds of the past--they form a fast friendship in the alpine landscape, where Carey begins to instruct his first pupil in the ways of the wilderness and mountains.