The Restoration of Heart Island

What’s it about?

When a widowed cinematographer agrees to document the restoration of an abandoned castle in the Thousand Islands, her story becomes entwined with that of the 19th century lovers who built it—and the idealistic architect determined to give it a second life.

A year after her husband’s death, Niamh Ellis is more certain than ever that love can’t make up for the cost of heartbreak. Driven to resurrect the dreams that marriage and motherhood derailed, she reluctantly agrees to a summer vacation with her best friend and their teenaged kids. While her family enjoys a much needed break from reality, Niamh plans to get her anxiety disorder under control so she can get back in the filmmaking game. But her friend’s intentions aren’t entirely selfless. Hired to plan a fundraising gala at Boldt Castle, a local Gothic ruin, she’s persuaded the board to produce a documentary about its stalled restoration—and she wants Niamh to direct.

The project could be the perfect new beginning, if cynical Niamh can stomach Heart Island’s romantic backstory, a fairtytale she’s sure will prove too good to be true. But if she doesn’t pull herself together, fast, her son threatens to repeat her mistakes, sacrificing his dreams for love. Having cared for his kid sister while Niamh battled her demons, he issues an ultimatum: if she wants him to go to college, she must prove herself capable of handling life without him. Niamh accepts the challenge. Skeptical sons and star-crossed ghosts she can handle. But when the castle’s bright-eyed optimist architect, Aaron Stone, reignites the spark she’d intended to let die with her husband, Niamh realizes Heart Island may not be the only thing in need of fixing. To help her family move forward, Niamh must find the courage to confront the past—and learn that a love story doesn’t need to end happily ever after to be worth it.