About Grace

Winkler visits Sandy’s grave at the environmentally friendly cemetery where she was buried. The attendant gives him a brochure encouraging family members to plant a tree in their loved one’s grave. Winkler is pleased with the stone Herman chose for Sandy. In the taxi on the way home, he has a playful memory of her and thinks of how much he loved her and still loves her now.

Winkler goes to see Herman unannounced. Herman is grilling turkey burgers and asparagus. He invites Winkler to join him. Herman tells Winkler he recently had heart surgery and eats healthy due to doctor’s orders. Winkler excuses himself to use the bathroom during dessert and finds a photograph of Sandy in the bathroom that he recognizes from her obituary. Herman tells him the picture was taken at a party just a short time before Sandy’s cancer was diagnosed. After the meal, Herman offers to drive Winkler to the bus stop. Herman says that he babysits Christopher, Grace’s son, during the week while Grace works. Winkler again apologizes for what he and Sandy did to Herman.

Winkler visits Herman several more times. They never talk about Sandy or Grace until the ride to the bus stop. Herman tells Winkler that Sandy didn’t live with him again and that she always considered herself married to Winkler. Herman says Sandy raised Grace alone. Winkler offers to help pay for Sandy’s grave, but Herman tells him Sandy’s coworkers paid for it. Herman then tells Winkler that Grace works in the shoe department at Gottschalks.

Naaliyah receives a call from Soma telling her that Felix is in the hospital being treated for kidney failure. That same day, Winkler goes to Gottschalks, inspired to let go of his cowardice by Felix’s illness. Winkler worries that he won’t recognize Grace, but the moment he sees her, he sees both himself and Sandy in her. He watches her help a customer and then approaches her, telling her who he is. She asks him to leave and meet her at a local gas station. Winkler waits at the gas station, and Grace shows up nearly an hour late. She confronts him, saying that Sandy told her he was mentally unstable and that he abandoned them. She says she’s outraged that she ate the pies he’d left for her and tells him to stay away from her. Winkler sits in the park across from Grace’s home, imagining what her childhood was like and what’s happening inside the apartment.

Winkler asks Herman if he can spend time with Christopher. Herman takes a few days to think about it and then invites Winkler to watch Christopher while Herman works in his home office upstairs. Winkler watches Christopher play with his toys for a time and then shows him a trick with ice and Kool-Aid in which he freezes the Kool-Aid into crystalline shapes. Herman comes down to serve Christopher a snack, complaining to Winkler that his bosses are trying to push him out of his job. Winkler leaves a half hour before Grace is due to pick up Christopher.

Winkler begins babysitting Christopher three times a week. He’s careful to leave before Grace is due to arrive, slipping out the back door and taking a shortcut through the woods to the bus stop. Winkler imagines that Grace knows, but he isn’t sure. Herman tells Winkler that Grace married a man she didn’t like and that her ex-husband has very little to do with Christopher. Grace likes to ride bikes and goes riding most days. Winkler also learns that Herman has a girlfriend in San Antonio whom he met through his time-share in San Diego. Naaliyah is absorbed in her research, and Winkler is content with his work and his well-meaning coworkers. He learns that Felix is doing better and recovering at home.

In July, Herman begins going into the office three times a week. During this time, Winkler takes Christopher on trips into town, sometimes to the park and other times to Naaliyah’s apartment. Christopher has a fascination with insects, and Naaliyah teaches him about her insects. While having lunch at the mall, Christopher shows him a picture of his father.

Christopher finds a chrysalis on the leaf of a persimmon tree. He removes the leaf and takes it to Herman’s, where Winkler helps him set it up in a cup out on the back deck. A short time later, Naaliyah takes them into the Kenai to hear spruce beetles. Herman tells Winkler that Grace is asking questions, and Winkler thinks Grace knows. In early August, Herman returns home early and tells Winkler he was at lunch with a client and ran into Grace. He had to tell her the truth. Grace is angry and has decided to put Christopher into daycare for the remaining weeks until school starts.

Winkler visits the building where he lived as a child. Memories fill his mind as he struggles with his grief over losing Christopher and his fear of Grace’s anger. He sees Grace one night while riding the bus. She’s on a bike. He tries to call to her, but she doesn’t hear him.

Winkler falls back into a routine, and he begins to sleepwalk again. He imagines conversations with Grace about her mother. He sits in the park across from Grace’s apartment and leaves flowers on her doorstep. He has a dream that Herman is under his desk at his office, and Christopher is running through streetlamps as it snows.

After three months, Herman decides that they should throw Grace a surprise birthday party. Winkler picks Christopher up from school, and they bake a cake together. Christopher asks Naaliyah about the chrysalis he rescued from the mall. The chrysalis opened, and the moth disappeared before Winkler or Christopher could see it. Naaliyah tells Christopher he might look at the plant where he found the first chrysalis because there might be more.

Herman is supposed to pick Winkler and Christopher up and take them to Grace’s apartment, but at the last minute, Herman calls to say he’s running late at work. Winkler worries that if they’re late, Grace will go to get Christopher at his friend’s house and discover he’s not there. He and Christopher take the bus and find Grace home. They light candles on the cake and knock. Grace takes Christopher into the apartment but leaves Winkler alone on the doorstep. He goes across to the park. Grace comes over, revealing that she has seen Winkler here before, and invites him in. Christopher asks to go to the mall, but Grace and Winkler are focused on their own conversation. Grace expresses her anger at Winkler for abandoning her as a child. Winkler apologizes. He goes to the bathroom to collect himself. When he comes out, Grace tells him Christopher is gone.

Naaliyah gets a phone call that Felix has died. Herman has a heart attack at his desk. Winkler and Grace search for Christopher. Winkler recalls his dream of Christopher walking between lampposts in the snow. He goes to the mall and finds Christopher studying three more chrysalides in the persimmon plant. He takes him back to the apartment, but Grace isn’t there. Winkler reflects on his dream and realizes there’s another part to it. He leaves a note for Grace and takes her car, driving to the bank. Christopher leads him to Herman’s office. At the same time, Grace searches for Christopher at his friend’s house, and Naaliyah boards a plane for home.

Winkler and Christopher are in the waiting room of the hospital as Herman is taken into surgery. Christopher sleeps as Winkler reflects on the past. When Christopher wakes up, a nurse brings them a tray of food. Grace arrives, and together they wait long into the night for news. Herman comes out of surgery and is stable. Grace tells Winkler that her mother urged her to write to him. Sandy had wanted Grace to tell Winkler that she’d taken Grace back to the house to save her sculpture, but she couldn’t get any help and it was underwater anyway. Winkler goes to see Herman, and Grace joins him.

Felix is cremated, and Naaliyah scatters his remains in Patagonia. Herman recovers, but he must retire. He decides to spend some time in San Diego with his girlfriend. Grace allows Winkler to babysit Christopher after school. They care for Naaliyah’s insects and the three chrysalides Christopher rescued from the persimmon tree.

On Thanksgiving, Grace drops Christopher and Winkler off at the cemetery before going for a bike ride. Christopher and Winkler pick out a sapling to plant on Sandy’s grave.

Winkler gets a letter from Soma describing the fun she’s having on a trip to Chile. He moves into an apartment of his own.

Winkler dreams that he’s back at Camp Nowhere. He sees a woman outside the window. He can’t see the woman’s face because of her hood. She stops at the window and presses her hand against the glass. At first, Winkler thinks it’s Naaliyah, but then he realizes it isn’t. The woman smiles. He wakes and watches snow fall outside his window.