Molly Bell Redwine has always been a model of success and contentment. But when her husband of 20 years leaves her for a younger woman and her mother dies, her family scatters. Needing to come to terms with this cataclysm and figure out who she is now, Molly visits friends on Martha's Vineyard and eventually purchases a small abandoned cottage on a remote up-island pond. Seasons change and it is there, as she tends a pair of crotchety old swans and makes new friends, that she settles into a new life, a new love, and a new self.

"A wonderful story. . . .Siddons has returned to what she does best: gives us a book full of laughter and adventure that has enough soul to leave us with something to think about after we finish reading." -- Detroit News/Free Press

From childhood, Molly Bell Redwine was taught by her charismatic, domineering mother that "family is everything." But no one warned Molly that family can change unexpectedly. In rapid succession, her husband of more than twenty years abandons her for a younger woman, her mother dies, and her Atlanta clan scatters to the four winds. Molly is set adrift in a heartbeat.

With her old world crumbling, Molly takes refuge with a friend on Martha's Vineyard, hoping to come to terms with who she truly is. When the summer season ends, Molly decides to stay on, renting a small cottage on a remote up-island pond--becoming part of an odd, new, very real family that taxes her old outworn notions. And as the long Vineyard winter approaches, Molly braces herself for the arduous task she must undertake: a search for renewal and identity, and the strength to carry her through to the warm and healing spring.