What does it mean to start over at age twenty-seven, to move beyond failure and disappointment and begin life again? In returning to his hometown, a historic city perched on the snow-covered shores of Lake Superior, Tom Johnson never suspects that he is being led to a young woman on the cusp of an irrevocable change. Funny and smart, evocative and heart-breaking, ''The Broken Key'' asks the questions posed by all memorable stories. What do we expect from life? What do we expect from ourselves? And where does one life end and another begin?