<I>Dear Anna,<P>What I have to tell you is difficult to write, but I know it will be far more difficult for you to hear, and I'm so sorry?</i><P>The unfinished letter is the only clue Tara and Emerson have to the reason behind their close friend Noelle's suicide. Everything they knew about Noelle?her calling as a midwife, her passion for causes, her love for her friends and family?described a woman who <I>embraced</i> life.<P>Yet there was so much they <I>didn't</i> know.<P>With the discovery of the letter and its heartbreaking secret, Noelle's friends begin to uncover the truth about this complex woman who touched each of their lives?and the life of a desperate stranger?with love and betrayal, compassion and deceit.