Salt on Our Skin

In the 1950s, George arrives in Scotland for a long summer vacation with her younger sister Frédérique and the locals. She quickly meets Gavin, a humble fisherman, and a palpable attraction forms between them. Their days are filled with long conversations, shared glances, and a growing, forbidden romance against a rugged coastal backdrop.

The attraction deepens into a torrid romance, marked by moonlit swims and stolen moments. Gavin and George fall into a relationship that challenges their different backgrounds and expectations. The affair becomes the emotional center of their summer, shaping what comes next.

After the summer, George and her sister return to Paris to study, re-entering academic life. Mary asks the sisters to be her bridesmaids for her wedding, keeping George connected to Gavin through mutual friends. The distance tests their bond and foreshadows the choices that lie ahead.

Back in Scotland for Mary's wedding, George and Gavin rekindle their romance and escape the wedding celebration to a secluded cave on the seashore. The secret rendezvous seals a temporary renewal of their bond, even as life sends them onto different paths again. The moment is intimate, charged, and bittersweet.

Months later, Gavin visits Paris and asks George to marry him. She declines, choosing instead to pursue her intellectual ambitions at the Sorbonne and reject the life of a fisherman’s wife. The decision marks the end of their intense romance and sets them on separate courses.

Their lives take divergent paths as George becomes an intellectual and feminist activist. She marries and has a son, building a career and a family that contrast sharply with Gavin’s simple, grounded world. The relationship remains a powerful memory rather than a daily reality.

A decade passes and George, now divorced, moves to Quebec to pursue an academic career teaching and writing a book on women's studies. The move marks a turning point as she establishes herself in a new country and field. Her professional life becomes the focus of her identity.

George’s second marriage to Sidney, an intellectual, is described as dry and ultimately ends in divorce. The failed union adds another layer to her complex personal journey, reinforcing her commitment to her work and independence. The arc shows how happiness can be found in achievements rather than conventional domestic bliss.

Ellen invites George to join a summer trip to England, where she encounters Gavin again on a London street. He resents her past refusal but eventually agrees to accompany her to Saint Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands for a romantic vacation. Their reunion rekindles an old flame and sets the stage for later meetings.

From Saint Thomas onward, Gavin and George meet discreetly through the years, their love surviving despite differences in temperament and life choices. They sketch a pattern of encounters across Scotland, Montreal, and even a church in Florida, using travel and memory to sustain their bond. The relationship remains a passionate if imperfect affair.

Gavin’s death abruptly ends their ongoing romance. At his funeral, Josie, his widow, gives George a letter Gavin had written for her. The letter explains that before George came into his life, he believed days would blend into one another until death, but now he longs to be held by her from time to time, if she wants it; he says that the thought that she exists and thinks of him helps him live.