The Wish

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of illness and death.

Forty-year-old Maggie Dawes lives in Manhattan, where she owns an art gallery with fellow artist Trinity. She is a famous travel photographer, having visited dozens of countries throughout her life. A few years before, she was diagnosed with stage 4 melanoma cancer that had metastasized into her vital organs.

Maggie posts a series of videos on YouTube that she calls her “Cancer Videos” that discuss her illness. They receive millions of views and, as a result, Maggie’s photography becomes significantly more popular. Because there is only one employee at the gallery, Luanne Summers, Maggie decides to hire another worker to handle the influx of visitors.

Maggie, Luanne, and Trinity interview several candidates. One man, 22-year-old Mark Price, stands out from the rest. Maggie is hesitant to hire him, mostly because of a gut feeling. She is afraid that he knows too much about her from her videos online and that he is more interested in her illness than the gallery. However, she decides that he is more than qualified for the job and, despite her hesitancy, hires him. Over the next few weeks, she comes to consider him a good friend.