The tremors warned of incoming waves, high enough to drown every home in the tiny coastal village where an old man gave piano lessons to children who grew up to forget every note.
The old man faces a decision: flee with the villagers over the mountain to the other side, where every lesson he ever taught will cease to exist - faded in his former pupils minds the way a flame dies on a small wick - or stay and watch the waves crash around him and his notes and piano keys where he lived a full life and made a difference.