On a July morning in 1944, along the banks of Redemption River, Esther Foley first glimpses Robert Sommers, her new neighbor. This gentle, educated man starkly contrasts Harlon, Esther's volatile husband. The consequences of Robert's friendship leave Esther as unprepared as the price she'd pay for Harlon's debauchery. One storm-swept night a desperate act will forever change the course of all their lives. A generation later, a young boy finds skeletal remains inside a hollow tree on the old Foley farm. Esther's daughter Helen spent a lifetime building walls keeping ghosts of the past at bay until the revelation of the bones. A box of aging letters and a mysterious ring compels Helen to confront long-buried memories and her part in the shattering events of the past. The Witness Tree is a haunting, heart-wrenching story of love, loss, empowerment, and the repercussions of one generation upon the next.