After losing yet another job, Maeve Connelly decides she needs a fresh start. Hoping to lose her reputation as irresponsible and flighty by starting over in a new place, she packs up her 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner and heads for California. Car trouble along the way leaves her stranded in Unknown, Arizona where she finds a boarding house that offers a free room in exchange for cleaning and a job in a book store to help pay for the car repair. The annoyance of being stranded quickly fades as she is befriended by quirky characters who help her to see herself differently, and eventually she’s not so sure that she wants to head on down the road.

In Leaving Unknown Kerry Reichs mixes humorous characters, romance, and small-town nostalgia with an inspiring story about facing the past.