When Caroline Lash arrives in Greenhead, Massachusetts, she immediately falls in love with Van Whittaker, a local who runs with the same crowd he did as a kid: his ex-girlfriend Bailey; old-money Augusta; and Fran, who is so surrounded by brothers and sons she'd never consider marriage. When Bailey discovers that she is pregnant with Van's baby, the delicate balance is upset and she is cast out of the circle of friends. Heartbroken and furious, she exposes long-held secrets that work the entire town into a lather.