I know now that burning out is when a longer struggle gives way to a relentless, unstoppable assault, like a rock's face being worn down by erosion. You emerge with your contours hewn differently and something else inside transfigured. Some of these changes are welcome, but others can leave you grieving for the self you have lost.
A woman and her husband move away from London to an island in Scotland. There, their marriage falls apart, and he leaves her to live alone and be reshaped by the loss of love, by local traditions, and by the land itself into a more resilient person than perhaps she herself knew she could become.