Susannah Misselthwaite was gazing up at the brightness of the blue sky when the deer leapt in front of the car. She never knew what happened.

Guy Misselthwaite, Professor of Botany, hides from his grief in his greenhouse, and broods on the mystery of why his wife died in another man's car. Without Susannah, everything is lost. The household descends into dust and chaos.

Meanwhile little Felix Misselthwaite pores over photographs of Susannah, grasping for traces of a mother who is slipping from his memory more each day. Felix is happiest sitting in the branches of a tree in the university's Botanical Garden. Here, away from the bullies at school and the emptiness of home, he presides over the dreams and dramas of those who pass beneath him. Teachers and students, young and old, happy, sad, or filled with longing, all find sanctuary and space for contemplation in this few square feet of soil.

Touching, funny and bittersweet, this is a story about love, loss and loyalty - and about how sometimes a bit of earth can mend a broken heart.