After escaping her kidnappers and would-be murderers, Emily Hampstead is called to Québec with her friends Jack Rathburn and Hilda Paisley to testify in the trial of a terrorist bomber. The extremists attack Emily and her friend in the woods. The terrorists die, but so does Jean-Pierre, her lover. As COVID begins closing borders, the three friends fly to Germany in time to wait out the pandemic there. Jack and Hilda are recalled to active duty, and Emily is hired as an ambulance driver and EMT. Struggling with the death of Jean-Pierre, she is grateful for the lockdown. She resumes her studies at UVA online. After vaccines come out and the pandemic eases off, Emily returns to the US to attend the National Park Service Law Enforcement Academy in Flagstaff, Arizona. Jack and Hilda are promoted, so remain on active duty in Germany. Emily plans to become a seasonal ranger and earn her nursing degree at UVA. Mid-way through the course, an extremist militia, led by an ex-MP who has sworn to kill Emily, attacks the school. Emily hides in the desert with the Navajo, where she faces her ghosts and learns to move on. After stopping her enemy, Emily finishes at the academy at Temple University and serves her first assignment at Saguaro National Park. When she returns to UVA to start her nursing studies, she completes her reconciliation with her grief and her doubts.
