After 10 years of traveling the world, Emma wishes to settle down. Marie is pregnant and buying a home near Acton, and is set to take over the bookstore; this life no longer sounds unappealing to Emma. However, when Emma mentions eventually going home to Acton one day, Jesse dismisses the thought. Although the jet-setting life has always felt temporary to Emma, Jesse does not feel the same way.

Because of this, when Jesse gets a last-minute work assignment in Alaska around their first wedding anniversary, Emma encourages him to go, as Jesse has not seen Alaska yet. He promises to celebrate their anniversary when he gets home, telling Emma that he loves her “more than anyone has ever loved anyone in the history of the world” (73). The last time Emma sees Jesse before his disappearance is the day before their anniversary, when she drops him off at the airport. She wakes up sick the next day, and later believes this was a premonition, as Jesse doesn’t call her.

Jesse and his crew make it to Alaska, but the first time they use their helicopter to shoot aerial footage, it never comes back. All four people on board are lost.