John Russell is an emotionally broken man at the age of 27 when he accepts the position of lighthouse keeper in 1923. In desperate need of a place where he can hopefully come to terms with the unfortunate decisions he has made in his life, the solitude he hopes to find in the Willamette River Lighthouse may be the one place where he will be able to rest and, through quiet reflection and the passing of time, learn to forgive himself those decisions. It is John Russell's plan to spend a year or three above the confluence of the mighty Columbia and Willamette Rivers at the north end of Portland, healing in the quiet sanctuary of the lighthouse built on stilts. But, as it always has been in his life, those plans soon change, the quiet refuge becomes as turbulent as the rivers, and he finds himself spending years above the dangerous waters until he wonders if the lighthouse is still a sanctuary or has it become a prison. Set in the early part of the 20th century, the busy port of Portlan...
