Karin is a young labor and delivery nurse in Chicago. She is skilled and comfortable with all the technology associated with childbirth in a big-city hospital. But when her roommate becomes ill and dies from mysterious causes, Karin’s plan for a successful life in Chicago falls into disarray, and she begins to question her life and career path. One hundred years earlier, Karin’s great-grandmother came to Michigan as an immigrant from Finland. When Aliisa arrived in Calumet, the town was booming with wealth generated by the copper mines. Aliisa found a job as a maid in the house of a wealthy merchant, and she dreamed of having her own home in town one day. Aliisa married and began a family, but after the copper miners’ strike, her dream was dashed. In the midst of Karin’s struggles, she is given a letter that was written long ago by her great-grandmother Aliisa. Despite the years separating the two women, Aliisa has a message of hope for Karin.
