The Lovely Bones

Susie Salmon is lured into an underground hideout by her neighbor George Harvey and murdered. She arrives in her personal heaven and begins to understand what has happened to her.

The Salmon family absorbs the news of Susie's murder. Detective Len Fenerman investigates. Jack Salmon begins to suspect George Harvey. Susie watches, unable to help.

The Salmon family struggles through the first months of grief. Lindsey is defined as the surviving sister. Buckley, too young to understand, creates his own mythology of Susie's absence. Grandma Lynn arrives.

George Harvey moves through the neighborhood undetected. Susie watches him preserve his trophies. Lindsey begins to investigate on her own. Jack confronts Harvey directly.

Ruth Connors, who felt Susie's spirit pass through her on the night of the murder, develops an obsession with the dead. Ray Singh, who loved Susie, withdraws into himself. Both are shaped by a death they experienced obliquely.

Lindsey breaks into Harvey's house while he is at a neighborhood memorial for Susie. She finds a sketch of the underground room — the first real evidence. Harvey discovers the intrusion and flees.

Abigail Salmon, unable to endure the grief of the household, leaves her family for California. Years pass. Jack has a heart attack. The family reassembles without resolution. Eventually Abigail returns.

Susie borrows Ruth's body for a single afternoon to experience the physical world again and say goodbye to Ray. Harvey dies anonymously. The Salmon family reconvenes years after the murder. Susie watches, then turns away.