The book is a memoir of the life of Ivan Doig, the author. Although the book is written in beautiful, poetic language, there is so little substance, in term of plot. This is mainly because it is a memoir, not a fiction book. Characters come and go during the course of the book, with no lasting impression. Places are more vivid than the people. The second half of the book moves more quickly than the first, perhaps because it is written more from the author's own memories, than the recollections of family and friends.

That said, the starkness of the Montana frontier is very vividly portrayed, as well as the hardships associated from eaking out a living from the land.

This book has a double storyline, one revolving around the extra-marital romance between a married woman and her gardener, the other about the woman who finds her diary in the gardener's cottage of her newly purchased country home.

The problem I had with the book was not in the writing, for the writing was well done, but with the fact that the whole book is based on one woman's irresponsible decisions. The message that one can "have their cake and eat it too" is the main theme of the book.

The message it sends to the reader is that affairs based on romance are condonable, but an affair based on sex is wrong. Both are equally wrong and irresponsible, but that aspect is never explored.