The Simple Wild Summary: Calla, Alaska, and Jonah
TL;DR: The Simple Wild at a Glance
- Who: Calla Fletcher, twenty-six, a Toronto blogger and former bank employee; Wren Fletcher, her estranged father and owner of the Alaska Wild charter company; Jonah Riggs, his lead bush pilot.
- What happens: Calla flies to Bangor, Alaska, after learning her father has terminal lung cancer, intending to ask why he left. She stays long enough to work on his company’s website, fly with Jonah, and care for Wren through his final weeks.
- Central tension: Love for people who belong to a place she does not belong to.
- Structure: A prologue set in 1993, twenty-seven chapters set in 2018, and a two-month epilogue-style resolution in Toronto.
- Genre: Contemporary romance and new adult fiction with an enemies-to-lovers arc and a terminal-illness storyline.
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Characters In This Book
| Character | Role |
|---|---|
| Calla Fletcher | Twenty-six-year-old Toronto woman who travels to Alaska to meet her dying father. |
| Wren Fletcher | Calla’s father, founder and owner of the Alaska Wild charter company, diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. |
| Jonah Riggs | Thirty-one-year-old lead bush pilot for Alaska Wild. |
| Susan Barlow | Calla’s mother, who left Alaska and Wren twenty-four years earlier. |
| Simon Barlow | Calla’s stepfather, a psychiatrist in Toronto. |
| Agnes | Wren’s neighbor, friend, and office manager at Alaska Wild. |
| Mabel | Agnes’s twelve-year-old daughter. |
| Derek | Mabel’s late father and a former Alaska Wild pilot. |
| Diana | Calla’s best friend in Toronto and co-creator of the blog Calla & Dee. |
| Corey | Calla’s boyfriend in Toronto. |
| Sharon | Receptionist at Alaska Wild. |
| Max | Alaska Wild pilot and Sharon’s husband. |
| Dr. Marie Lehr | Veterinarian from Anchorage who flies to Bangor for monthly animal clinics. |
| Billy | Alaska Wild employee in Anchorage handling cargo and luggage. |
| Michael | Taxi driver in Bangor. |
| Ethel | Elder from a river village. |
| Barry & Dora Whittamore | Local farmers in Bangor. |
| George Becker | Veteran Alaska Wild pilot. |
| James | Accountant who keeps Alaska Wild’s ledgers. |
| Bandit | Raccoon living on Jonah’s porch. |
The Simple Wild Summary: Full Story (Spoilers Ahead)
Spoiler warning: the following section describes the plot and ending of the book.
The novel opens with a prologue in Anchorage on November 15, 1993. Susan Fletcher boards a flight to Toronto with her seventeen-month-old daughter, Calla, leaving her husband Wren behind.
Wren is a bush pilot who refuses to give up his charter company, Alaska Wild, and the two part at the airport. Twenty-four years pass without contact between father and daughter.
In July 2018, Calla Fletcher is laid off from her job at a Toronto bank. Days later, Agnes, a long-time friend of Wren, calls the family home to report that Wren has terminal lung cancer and to invite Calla to Alaska.
Calla’s stepfather, Simon, argues that she should go so she does not carry unanswered questions for the rest of her life. Her mother reacts with visible tension and warns Calla not to fall in love with a bush pilot.
Calla books a flight, packs two large suitcases, and breaks up with her boyfriend Corey by text after seeing him flirt with another woman. In Anchorage she is met by Jonah Riggs, Wren’s lead pilot, who tells her the luggage exceeds the plane’s weight limits.
She repacks into a small nylon duffel and flies in a Super Cub to Bangor, a remote community on the Kuskokwim River. The town runs on gravel roads, above-ground fuel pipes, charter flights, and shared reliance among residents and Yupik villages.
Her first meeting with Wren lasts only moments, and the two exchange almost nothing. Calla spends her early days without a car or food, clashing with Jonah, who accuses her of judging her father’s life.
A dinner at Agnes’s house introduces Mabel, Agnes’s twelve-year-old daughter. When Wren arrives and puts his arm around the girl, Calla assumes Mabel is a secret half-sister and leaves the house in tears.
Jonah follows her and explains that Mabel’s father was Derek, an Alaska Wild pilot who died in a mountain crash before she was born.
Wren then tells Calla the rest: Derek died flying a route Wren was scheduled to take, and when Mabel was born prematurely with a heart defect, Wren stayed in Alaska instead of flying to Toronto for Calla’s eighth-grade graduation.
Believing his daughter was better off without him, Wren stopped reaching out. Learning this softens Calla’s anger, and father and daughter begin to build a routine of checkers, shared meals, and flights over the tundra.
Calla offers to build a professional website for Alaska Wild to help the struggling company attract tourists. Jonah agrees to supply content and photographs, and the project forces them to work closely together.
After Jonah survives an engine failure and a crash landing, Calla trims his beard while he sleeps and discovers the face underneath. A severe rainstorm later strands them overnight in a remote wilderness safety cabin, where the two begin a relationship.
Wren’s health then declines sharply. He tells Calla that the cancer has metastasized and that he has chosen to stop treatment and remain at home under hospice care.
Calla cancels her flight to Toronto and stays. In his final weeks, Wren takes her on one last flight in his favorite plane, Veronica, and Susan flies to Alaska for a reconciliation with Wren after twenty-four years.
Wren dies peacefully, and Calla returns to Toronto, parting from Jonah because their lives are tied to different places. Two months later, Jonah appears on her porch, clean-shaven, having resigned from Aro Airlines, which purchased Alaska Wild.
He is starting his own small charter business near Anchorage and asks Calla to move to Alaska. She accepts, and the novel closes with the two planning a shared future.
Who Should Read The Simple Wild?
The novel suits readers of contemporary romance and new adult fiction who prefer character-driven plots over fast action.
The narrative moves through two months in Alaska at a steady, episodic pace, with the central relationship developing alongside a terminal-illness storyline.
Readers drawn to wilderness settings, small-town and rural communities, bush aviation, and Yupik village life will find those elements central rather than decorative.
Those looking for a romance with an enemies-to-lovers arc, forced proximity, and a fish-out-of-water premise will recognize familiar structural patterns.
Readers who prefer minimal grief content should note that the death of a parent is a major plotline and occurs on the page. The novel closes on a resolved, hopeful note.
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Summary by Chapter (Spoilers)
Spoiler warning: this section outlines events in every chapter.
The Simple Wild contains one prologue and twenty-seven numbered chapters, for a total of twenty-eight narrative sections.
Prologue: November 15, 1993 — Susan Fletcher prepares to fly from Anchorage to Toronto with her seventeen-month-old daughter, Calla. She can no longer endure the isolation and constant worry of life with a bush pilot, and Wren refuses to leave his charter company.
Chapter 1: July 26, 2018 — Calla Fletcher is laid off from her bank job in Toronto and returns home with her desk items in a box. Her mother, Susan, mentions a missed phone call from Alaska.
Chapter 2 — Calla comes home late after losing a shoe while throwing it at raccoons in the driveway. Simon hands her the phone, and Agnes tells her that Wren has lung cancer and invites her to visit.
Chapter 3 — Calla goes to a club with Diana, who urges her to take the trip as material for their blog, Calla & Dee. She sees Corey flirting with another woman and ends the relationship by text.
Chapter 4 — Calla shops for the trip and packs two large suitcases, while Susan warns her against falling in love with a bush pilot. She leaves for the airport early the next morning.
Chapter 5 — Calla lands in Anchorage and meets Jonah Riggs, who tells her the suitcases exceed the flight’s weight limits. She transfers essentials into a small nylon duffel before takeoff.
Chapter 6 — Jonah flies Calla to Bangor in a small Super Cub through rough turbulence. Agnes greets her at the gravel runway, and Calla meets Wren for the first time in twenty-four years in a brief, awkward exchange.
Chapter 7 — Calla wakes to an empty house with no food and no driver’s license. Jonah reluctantly drives her to Meyer’s grocery store, where prices are high and she learns Bangor is a dry community.
Chapter 8 — Michael, a local taxi driver with six children, drives Calla home, where she finds Jonah has put her groceries away. She calls Simon and Susan to describe her frustration with the trip.
Chapter 9 — At dinner at Agnes’s house, Calla meets Mabel, Agnes’s twelve-year-old daughter. When Wren arrives and puts his arm around the girl, Calla assumes Mabel is a half-sister and leaves in tears; Jonah explains that Mabel’s father was Derek, a pilot killed in a crash.
Chapter 10 — Wren explains that Derek died on a route Wren was scheduled to fly and that he stayed in Alaska when Mabel was born prematurely with a heart defect. Calla begins to forgive him, and the two share a conversation over beer.
Chapter 11 — Calla visits the Alaska Wild office and discusses the company’s outdated operations with Agnes. She learns the fleet’s planes are named after Alaskan explorers.
Chapter 12 — Bandit, the raccoon that lives on Jonah’s porch, gets inside and eats Calla’s sandwich. She proposes building a website for Alaska Wild, and Jonah agrees to collaborate.
Chapter 13 — Jonah wakes Calla early and flies her to Kwigillingok to deliver a portable ventilator to an asthmatic child. She sees how the charter service functions as a lifeline for isolated villages.
Chapter 14 — After a long day of flights across the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, Calla announces that she is extending her stay. Agnes is delighted, and Jonah gives a tight-lipped nod of approval.
Chapter 15 — While Jonah test-flies the plane Betty, the engine fails and the aircraft crashes in a nearby field. Calla runs to the wreckage and finds him alive with a bleeding head wound.
Chapter 16 — Jonah receives nine stitches at the hospital while Calla and Mabel clean out Wren’s garage. That evening Calla brings him food and medicine and trims his beard while he sleeps on the couch.
Chapter 17 — Calla’s suitcases finally arrive and she unpacks her clothes. Wren laughs at Jonah’s trimmed beard the next morning, and Calla learns that Max and Jonah once drew 1,464 nipples on the kitchen duck wallpaper.
Chapter 18 — Calla continues work on the Alaska Wild website. Jonah confronts her at the office about the note she left regarding his beard, and the tension between them increases.
Chapter 19 — Calla finds Jonah eating her overnight oats and learns he hid her makeup bags at his house in retaliation. Mabel interrupts their confrontation to take Calla berry picking in the rain.
Chapter 20 — Calla meets Dr. Marie Lehr, a veterinarian with an evident interest in Jonah, and claims she may stay in Alaska longer. Jonah takes her on a flight to Rainy Pass to collect two hikers, but rain and headwinds force a landing.
Chapter 21 — Stranded overnight, Calla and Jonah stay in a remote wilderness safety cabin and begin a relationship. They share stories about their pasts, and Calla recognizes the depth of her feelings.
Chapter 22 — The fog clears and they spot the missing hikers, one with a broken leg, and call in search-and-rescue. Back in Bangor they learn Wren has been hospitalized and has chosen to forgo further treatment.
Chapter 23 — Calla runs six miles home in her rain boots, and Jonah finds her crying in the shower and comforts her. Simon advises her by phone to support her father’s decision despite her grief.
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Chapter 24 — Calla cancels her flight home to remain with Wren. He arranges his affairs, sells Alaska Wild to Aro Airlines, leaves his planes and house to Jonah, and gives his checkers set to Mabel.
Chapter 25 — Calla, Wren, Mabel, and Jonah spend a morning fishing, and the community holds a farewell party for Max and Sharon. Jonah tells Calla the Yupik legend of the raven and the goose-wife in Veronica’s cockpit.
Chapter 26 — Wren takes Calla on one last flight in Veronica, where they say goodbye and he speaks of his enduring love for Susan. Susan flies in, the two reconcile, and Wren dies; Calla parts from Jonah at the airport and returns to Toronto.
Chapter 27 — Two months later, Jonah arrives at Calla’s Toronto home, clean-shaven and no longer with Aro Airlines. He is starting his own charter business near Anchorage and asks her to move to Alaska, and she accepts.
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Quotes from The Simple Wild
“The best things in your lives will never come simply. They’ll always be worth it.” — Author’s Epigraph / Dedication
“Ask the questions you need to ask, and get to know Wren. Not for him, but for you. So you don’t find yourself ruled by deep regrets in the future.” — Simon giving advice to Calla on her front steps in Toronto after learning of Wren’s cancer diagnosis
“No one expects you to. But if you’re smart, you’ll be willing to try and salvage even a shred of what you used to have, for your own sake.” — Jonah confronting Calla in the parking lot after she complains about her father
“This is their home. This is what they know. This is how they want to live… You don’t have to; you just have to respect it.” — Jonah explaining the Yupik villagers’ way of life to Calla after delivering a ventilator in Kwigillingok
“They stay together for the summer, and when she leaves just before the first snowfall, he decides to follow her south. But there’s no way he can survive the flight across the ocean. Finally, he has no choice but to say goodbye and go home.” — Jonah explaining the Yupik legend of the raven and the goose-wife to Calla in Veronica’s cockpit
“Alaska. You’ve ruined Alaska for me.” — Jonah speaking to Calla when he unexpectedly arrives on her porch in Toronto
The Simple Wild: Book Snapshot
| Genre & Subgenre | Contemporary Romance / New Adult Fiction / Wilderness Romance |
| Core Narrative Tropes | Enemies-to-Lovers, Fish Out of Water, Estranged Parent Reconciliation, Terminal Illness, Grumpy x Sunshine |
| Tone & Atmosphere | Emotional, rustic, humorous, atmospheric, and poignant |
| Primary Conflict | Calla’s attempt to forgive her father before he dies, alongside her relationship with a man committed to a remote wilderness |
| Pacing Style | Character-driven and episodic, covering two months in Alaska with a two-month postscript |
| Book Structure | 1 prologue and 27 chapters; book one of four in the Simple Wild series |
| Publisher | Atria Books, August 7, 2018 |
| Pages | 400 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1501133435 |
| ISBN-10 | 1501133438 |
Books Like The Simple Wild
The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah — Set in the Alaskan wilderness, it centers on a family adapting to an isolated landscape and the strain between outsiders and long-time residents.
Wild at Heart by K.A. Tucker — The direct sequel, following Calla and Jonah as Calla moves to Alaska and navigates bush life and small-town dynamics.
Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez — Built on an opposites-attract dynamic between an urban professional and a small-town partner, with family expectations shaping the relationship.
The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren — An enemies-to-lovers story driven by forced proximity, banter, and protagonists who revise their first impressions of each other.
Drive by Kate Stewart — A contemporary romance focused on personal growth, grief, and choices shaped by family relationships.
