Hope is about guilt. Hope is about regret. Hope is about parallels, parallels because we are all human. And Hope is about realizations and a little salvation. Ultimately, Hope is about a little light that can exist in all of us to help us find the way. It's about a mystery of a missing girl, but the real mystery is learning to heal a little, to forgive oneself a little-even at a terrible price. Orchard Grove, Maine: Poor, coastal fishing town, close to Boston. Nine months of the year, the town languishes and hides, but come summer, the natives are restless. The town attracts New York and Boston high society to the exclusive and luscious Pointe-Morel Estates on its outskirts. Money pours in, opportunities present themselves, hopes run high, and love and lust run cheap. But this summer is different because Hope, the town's favorite daughter, is missing. It's up to the smart but volatile newcomer detective to find her. Is there a connection between Hope's disappearance and the tourists? Can it be that simple, that trite? Detective Aziz and his colleagues have very little to go on, very little other than the barely sensible words and actions of Johnny Netter, a teenager with a developmental disorder. Sad Johnny, sad because Hope isn't there to play catch with him. He is anxious and agitated. He shrieks and he claps and stomps, but is there something else in his emoting, is there a connection? Is there more than just missing a friend behind the emoting and the humming? Will Aziz discover the secrets? And if so, what else might he learn about sympathy, compassion, fear, guilt, about our prejudices reflected in our actions and inactions-in short, all that is in the makeup of all of us?