Dr. Alison Whitcomb is one of the few female professors in the field of chemistry in 1989, when she meets Ethan McDonald, a graduate student who is about to change her life forever. As she reminisces about her life from 1969-1989, Alison realizes a torrid affair gave her the greatest reward: a new lease on life. The summer of '89 is a year she will never forget, when she finally rose from the ashes and seized the day as she never thought possible. Alison learns that sometimes, for a fleeting moment, a phoenix rises from the arms of another man.
