"1965, "middle America": Abortion is illegal, divorce is shameful, and women can't even get their own bank accounts or sign their own leases. In this novel, a group of women grapple with the issues of the day-and with their own complicated feelings about being wives, mothers-and people. The story centers around a group of women who open up their suburban households to girls from the local home for unwed mothers, teenagers who have gotten themselves "in the family way"-some so naèive they don't even really understand how-and are sent to local families to help out with housework and to be, a little bit, mothered themselves."