When a near-fatal accident separates a single father from his daughter, fate has a way of finding her a good home. While Chris fights for his life in a coma for nine years, his daughter Krista is raised by a well-intentioned couple who have no idea how to properly raise a child. Gilmer has wild ideas that he doesn't think through. Maggie knows the basics, and figures the rest out as she goes. But there is one thing they have in common: the love for the little girl who stole their hearts while her father was absent.

When Chris awakens from his coma, his amnesia keeps him from remembering he has a daughter. Putting his life back together, he takes to furniture repair and then design. But, he picks up a paint brush one day when an apparition of a little girl soon starts haunting him even while he is awake. He captures scenes of her on canvas, but can't figure out what connection they have. While he paints who he has affectionately been calling angel, she becomes more and more real to him.

Years go by and Chris has developed an entire life with a girl he knows only through paintings. He keeps them locked up in a private room while his other paintings have gained notoriety throughout the art community as the "Insider's Secret." The exposure he is getting brings him face to face with Maggie and a teenage girl named Krista. Something strange suddenly stirs in both of them.

It's certainly a drama, but with comedy to lighten the way. A River in the Ocean is a heartwarming tale about two lost souls, only one of them feels it and the other has yet to know. He didn't know he was looking. She didn't know she needed found. It leads to an ultimate conclusion that has the potential to either push them together or drive them apart.