The story follows Elara, a woman deeply moved by a poem that asks repeatedly, "Is it true, my love?" about the transformative power of love. The poem suggests love can dry tears, bring peace, end hatred and war, and heal the mind, contrasting with Elara's experience of sorrow, loneliness, and strife.
 
Driven by a desire to find out if these claims are true, Elara embarks on a journey. She observes communities where compassion thrives, witnessing acts of kindness, forgiveness, and connection that begin to affirm the poem's message. She sees grief-stricken individuals find purpose and adversaries reconcile, making her believe that the "claws of the beast" (fear and despair) can recede.
 
While she finds evidence of love's power in others, she struggles with the poem's call to "show me the way to a loving life." Eventually, through reflection, Elara realizes that love isn't a grand, abstract concept but a sum of small, intentional acts of empathy, forgiveness, and connection in daily life. This understanding transforms her perspective, and she finds her own path to a loving life, not by avoiding challenges but by facing them with an open heart. The story concludes with Elara affirming the poem's truth, having found it within herself.