Since adolescence, Dana's creative son was a complete mystery. As Michael got older, she felt their once close relationship spreading across a great divide as she attempted to get him to focus on settling down instead of wandering the world with his camera. But without warning, his life ends in suicide and Dana feels responsible; did she ask the wrong questions? Were her expectations of him too high? Whatever the reason, she is compelled to go in search of the answers, following Michael's travels guided by the letters and photographs he left behind. Prior to her quest, Dana had lived comfortably in her life's routine in Syracuse, New York; but in following Michael, she realizes there is a huge gap between the world and her narrow views of it. While enduring the comical fumbles of an inexperienced traveler, her journey through Canada, Europe, Asia, and Central America provides her with a heart-wrenching understanding of her son's perspective and the realization that he suffered from an undiagnosed mental disorder. Unexpectedly, along the way Dana also becomes aware of things about herself she never would have seen without the window that was the lens of Michael's camera.
