Acclaimed author Alice Adams introduces five women who are very different from one another -- from their looks to their personalities to the life choices they make -- in this hauntingly sensitive novel. Sage, the beautiful struggling artist, is caught in a hurtful marriage to a younger man; Lisa, overweight and happily married mother of three, fantasizes about living a different, more daring, life; Jill and Fiona are both blond, thin, and career-driven. Finally, there is Portia who, at twenty-five, suffers from chronic indecision and finds herself feeling very alone in the world. These women, who might ordinarily have little in common, are inextricably intertwined, for they are all Caroline's daughters. Now that her daughters are grown, Caroline feels an aching distance between herself and her children. Helpless to intervene in their lives, unable to spare them pain, she still finds that the love that ties a family together is more powerful than the mistakes they all make. Through the heartaches and the celebration, Caroline learns to step back and watches as her daughters grow into the kind of women she could never have expected.