Reese swings in his hammock and looks at the Tallulah River “spread out seamlessly into Lake Burton in a sheet of translucent, unmoving green, untouched by the antique cutwaters and jet skis that would split her skin and roll her to shore at 7:01 a.m.” (vii). He holds an unopened letter from his late wife, Emma, but cannot open it, paralyzed by the thought that the letter contains her last words to him. 

Reese goes into town and meets Annie, a girl who has a visible scar on her chest and is “small for her age. Probably six, maybe even seven, but looked more like four or five. A tomboy’s heart in a china doll’s body” (1). Reese learns that Annie sells lemonade to pay for the heart transplant she needs. He introduces himself and learns that Annie’s parents, who were missionaries, have died, and she now lives with her Aunt Cici, or Cindy, who works in the store behind the lemonade stand.

Reese starts to walk away but looks back and sees a bread delivery truck swerve out of control and hit Annie. “She managed to raise one hand, taking most of the blow, and began rolling backward like a yellow bowling ball, her hat sailing in one direction, her legs and body flying in the other” (11).