On November 3, 2020, Tim and Aileen Challies received the shocking news that their son Nick had died. A 20-year-old student at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, he had been participating in a school activity with his fiancee, sister, and friends, when he fell unconscious and collapsed to the ground. Neither students, nor a passing doctor, nor paramedics were able to revive him. His parents received the news at their home in Toronto and immediately departed for Louisville to be together as a family. While on the plane, Tim, an author and blogger, began to process his loss through writing.

Separated into four seasons, from Fall to Summer, and written mostly in the present tense, Seasons of Sorrow shares real-time reflections from the first year of his grief. Along the way, Tim shares the poignancy of his early grief, the doubts and fears that plagued him, the faith that sustained him, and the hope that has given him joy even through such sorrow.