"The Lost Melody of Summer" tells the story of Eleanor Vance, a cello teacher whose life has stagnated since the tragic death of her parents a decade ago, leading her to abandon her musical aspirations . She is unexpectedly called back to Seabrook, Maine, to inherit the seaside cottage of her estranged grandmother, the enigmatic concert pianist Edith Vance, who has recently passed away.
Upon arriving at the weathered Victorian house, Eleanor finds it to be a "time capsule" filled with Edith's musical history. She uncovers a hidden compartment containing Edith's personal journal and an unfinished, deeply emotional musical score titled "The Summer Sonata" . The journal entries hint at a "clandestine affair" and a profound, lost love with an unknown "M.".
During her time in Seabrook, Eleanor reconnects with her childhood friend, Jasper Croft, a quiet woodworker . Through their conversations and further discoveries, including a locket with a G clef , Eleanor uncovers that "M." was Jasper's grandfather, Elias Croft, a fisherman with a love for music . This revelation begins to thaw Eleanor's own "emotional block" and she tentatively begins to play Edith's cello, finding a cathartic release in the unfinished sonata .
The mystery deepens with the unsettling presence of Edith's lawyer, Arthur Finch, who seems to guard Edith's secrets . Eleanor eventually finds an unsent letter from Edith to Elias, revealing that Edith was forced by her influential family to leave Seabrook and give up their unborn child to protect Elias's reputation. Finch, Edith's confidante, confirms this heartbreaking truth and reveals that Eleanor herself is that lost child, making Edith her biological mother and Elias her biological father.
With this profound understanding, Eleanor completes "The Summer Sonata," turning it into a collaborative "healing process etched in melody". She performs the sonata for the people of Seabrook, sharing the town's hidden history and honoring her family's past . Eleanor decides to stay in Seabrook, embracing her newfound family connections and reigniting her passion for music by teaching cello, ultimately finding harmony and a new beginning in the place she once sought to escape.
