Delilah Goodnight is a grieving WW11 widow when Nathan McCarthy rents a room from her in wartime Portland, Oregon. While he's trying to complete his doctoral thesis on Roman History, he finds his mind and his work detoured by a growing passion for this beautiful, mysterious woman who ignites his sexual longings.

Tragedies of wartime intrude on their lives as they try to cope with their heartbreaks. As Nathan begins to write an impassioned novel to mirror his wishful desires, his imagination takes precedence over his academics until the virtual love affair consumes him. A dark history interrupts his fantasy with an unsolved house fire, a casualty at sea, illicit affairs and a road ending up between reality, truth and the dark side of sanity.