When thirty-four-year-old ex-war veteran Jack Armstrong is told he has only weeks to live his first concern is for his beloved wife Lizzie & their children: baby Jackie twelve-year-old would-be actor Cory & rebellious teenage daughter Mikki. It seems so cruel that an apparently fatal illness should claim him a survivor of Afghanistan & Iraq when he still ha so much left to live for. On Christmas Eve as Jack prepares to say goodbye to his family unthinkable tragedy strikes again & Lizzie is killed in a car accident. Just when Jack thought living was far harder than dying & the children's future looked so bleak something remarkable happens which gives Jack the valuable second chance he'd only dreamed of. Unexpectedly the family inherits Lizzie's beautiful childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. During one unforgettable summer Jack & the children struggle to rebuild their lives. They learn to live again -- & to love again. & they learn the biggest lesson of all -- the importance of family.