Thea and her husband, Allen, live happily in Chicago with their two sons, Nate and Dylan. Thea has been intellectually gifted from a young age. She went to the University of Chicago as an adult, but chose to pursue her interest in art. She prides herself on being smarter and prettier than her sister, Gaby, and keeps up a rivalry with her sibling all these years later. When Thea is on an architectural site in England managed by a younger man named Edward, she receives a worrisome call from Allen. He tells her that a huge mass in Nate's stomach has been found. Due to the 9/11 attacks, she is unable to return home. She can only speak with him over the phone as his doctors try to figure out what type of tumor it is. Once they identify it, Nate's future appears even worse, as it is a rare form with a low survival rate. Thea eventually returns home to be with Nate, and alternates with her husband to be with him in the hospital and Dylan at home. Nate undergoes intense chemotherapy treatment, and though the side effects are intense, the treatment slowly works. Nate is allowed to spend more time at home, with only five days a month in the hospital, while Thea goes back to work, only required to spend five days a month in England. While in England, she begins an affair with Edward, though she has no feelings for him and becomes increasingly guilty as he tells her he is falling for her. In the United States, she confides in her sister about her affair, aware of the fact that her life must now appear in shambles, with an ill son and unsuccessful marriage. Meanwhile, Gaby returns to school to become a nurse.