Years ago, the day before Ellie moved from Georgia to California, she and her best friend Nolan sat beneath an ancient oak tree where they wrote letters to each other, and sealed them in a rusty metal box. The plan was to return eleven years later and read them. But as that date arrives, much has changed. Ellie, bereft of the faith she grew up with, is a single mom trying to make ends meet. Sometimes she watches television to catch a glimpse of her old friend -- Nolan, now an NBA star, whose terrible personal tragedies fueled his faith and athletic drive in equal measure. But Nolan also suffers from a transcendent loneliness that nothing has ever eased.