To discover who she is today, Eva must go back to her roots. Twenty-eight-year-old Eva Hawthorn’s late mother taught her to always look forward and never look back. So, when Eva is offered a big promotion and transfer from New York to L.A. she knows her mother would push her to take it. But Eva’s plans are derailed when her estranged grandmother calls to tell her she’s selling the family home—a place filled with idyllic memories of playing in the woods with a boy who brought her baskets of apples and refused to tell her his real name. Eva is compelled to go back and visit one last time before heading to L.A. to start her new career. It’s autumn in Thornby, North Carolina; baked sweets are in abundance and personalities are just as spicy as the cinnamon sprinkled on the pumpkin pie cupcakes. The corner market is run by Cedar McLeod. A legacy inherited from his grandfather. But things have changed since 1962 and Cedar struggles to compete with the new grocery store in town. And when the beautiful and sophisticated Eva Hawthorn comes to visit, he’s embarrassed for her to see how the market is literally falling apart. As Eva helps her grandmother clean out the old house, she unearths secrets about her mother’s first love. The more she discovers, the stronger her attachment to Thornby becomes—especially when her grandmother enlists the help of Cedar McLeod. He’s kind and down-to-earth, nothing like any man Eva has met before. But the longer she stays the more she puts her new job at risk. And when someone starts leaving shiny red apples on her grandmother’s porch... Eva can’t help but wonder if something magical is calling her home.