Friends and Strangers

Elisabeth, a former journalist at the New York Times and author of two books, has recently moved from Brooklyn to a small college town with her husband, Andrew, and their infant son, Gil. Andrew left consulting to pursue a fellowship developing a solar-powered grill, and the couple wanted to be closer to his parents, George and Faye. Elisabeth is isolated and sleepless, her primary social connection a private Facebook group for Brooklyn mothers. Her best friend, Nomi, is still in Brooklyn, reachable only by text, and Elisabeth sees a therapist named Violet for longstanding anxiety she wants to address before Gil grows old enough to notice.

Elisabeth's family history is fraught. Her parents' volatile marriage, marked by her father's infidelity and her mother's emotional manipulation, ended in divorce, and neither parent has met Gil. Her father, a wealthy real estate figure, once slept with the mother of Elisabeth's boyfriend Jacob, destroying both relationships; Elisabeth has refused her father's money since age twenty-three. She harbors a secret that threatens her marriage: Two years earlier, she loaned nearly all of the couple's $300,000 in savings to her sister Charlotte, an Instagram influencer in Turks and Caicos who claimed a major sponsorship deal was imminent. The deal never materialized, and Andrew, who quit his job believing they had a financial cushion, knows nothing about the missing money. Andrew's father, George, lost his car service business to Uber and now drives for Uber himself, consumed by what he calls the Hollow Tree, his theory that America's support systems have been gutted. George and Faye are deeply in debt, with foreclosure notices arriving from the bank.

After interviewing several unsatisfactory candidates, Elisabeth hires Sam, a college senior, to babysit Gil. Sam is a Studio Art and English Literature double major from a large family who spent the previous summer in London working as a nanny and falling in love with Clive, a thirty-two-year-old walking-tour guide. Despite the twelve-year age gap, Sam agreed to marry Clive after graduation, though she harbors private doubts she never voices. Sam's college world includes her wealthy roommate Isabella and the Salvadoran women who work in the dorm kitchen, particularly Maria and Maria's niece Gaby, a twenty-three-year-old single mother. Sam and Gaby became close during Sam's lonely junior year, when she could not afford to study abroad with her friends.

The friendship between Elisabeth and Sam deepens quickly. Sam begins joining Elisabeth and Andrew for Sunday dinners, studying their marriage as a model of the partnership she wants. Afterward, the two women retreat to the den for easy, intimate conversation. Nomi warns Elisabeth not to blur the line between employer and friend, but Elisabeth dismisses the concern. Sam also grows close to George through his discussion group, a small gathering of older men at a local bakery who meet to talk about civic issues. On their drives together, George reveals that Elisabeth comes from significant family wealth and that her first apartment was purchased with her father's money, unsettling Sam's perception of Elisabeth's stories of youthful struggle.

At Christmas, Elisabeth's family converges on the house. Her father casually reveals that he owns Charlotte's condo and pays her expenses, exposing the lie behind Charlotte's claim that she needed Elisabeth's loan. Andrew overhears Elisabeth's angry reference to having "drained" their savings and demands an explanation. He is devastated to learn the money is gone, and their relationship enters a prolonged period of tension.

Fueled by outrage over the dining hall workers' deteriorating conditions, Sam writes an anonymous letter to the college president and sends it to the student newspaper. George had advised her to consult the workers first and gather signatures, but Sam acts alone. President Washington's published response is dismissive, and a mandatory meeting leads to a punitive new code of conduct: Personal belongings are banned from kitchens, leftover food taken home is classified as theft, and employees who express disagreement with the college can be fired. Gaby confronts Sam, furious, telling her the letter only made their lives harder and that Sam was never truly one of them. Gaby quits shortly after, and Sam is devastated, recognizing that her good intentions caused real harm.

Under pressure from Andrew, who wants to use their two remaining frozen embryos to have a second child, Elisabeth agrees to try IVF again. She privately hopes the treatment will fail, framing her agreement as penance for the money she gave Charlotte. Sam volunteers to administer Elisabeth's nightly hormone injections while Andrew is at a conference. On the first night, Elisabeth breaks down and confesses she has been praying the treatment will not work. She stops taking the drugs entirely but continues attending morning blood draws to maintain the pretense. The pregnancy test ultimately comes back negative. Andrew is heartbroken, believing she tried her hardest.

During a trip to New York, Elisabeth discovers through a records search that Clive was briefly married less than two years before meeting Sam, a fact Sam does not know. She also learns that the gallerist Matilda Grey, Sam's dream employer, is opening a new space in Brooklyn. Elisabeth posts on the Brooklyn mothers' Facebook group asking for an introduction, describing Sam as her "incredible babysitter" and adding a plea to help stop Sam "from making a colossal mistake and marrying her creepy British boyfriend." A contact comes through, Sam is offered the position, and she celebrates with Elisabeth, believing the opportunity arose organically.

That evening, Sam glances at Elisabeth's open laptop and sees the Facebook post. She confronts Elisabeth, feeling humiliated and manipulated. Elisabeth insists she only facilitated the introduction, but Sam is furious, arguing that Elisabeth mocked Clive publicly and did to Sam exactly what Elisabeth's father once did: meddled in a relationship she disapproved of. Sam accuses Elisabeth of being oblivious to her own privilege and threatens to tell Andrew about the IVF deception before storming out. That night, Sam asks Clive directly if he has ever been married. After a long pause, he admits to a brief marriage that ended before they met. Sam tells him she will take the job in Brooklyn, and he reluctantly agrees to long distance.

Sam stops coming to work and does not respond to invitations. Elisabeth attends Sam's graduation but stands apart and leaves when she realizes she is not wanted. Nomi visits and gently suggests that Elisabeth's fixation on Sam may be a way of avoiding her own problems. George, profiled in the local newspaper for his advocacy, lands a job as a union organizer. Elisabeth's agent tells her the sports book she has been writing is not working; when asked what she would give anything to stop thinking about, Elisabeth turns toward writing The Hollow Tree, the book George always wanted her to write.

An epilogue set ten years later finds Sam, now thirty-one, returning to campus for her reunion. She opened her own gallery in Providence after six years working for Matilda Grey. She and Clive broke up after graduation; he married someone else a year later. She never reconnected with Gaby or Maria. Walking through town, Sam encounters Elisabeth driving with Gil, now a lanky boy who does not remember her, and a younger daughter named Willa. Their exchange is warm but brief. Elisabeth published The Hollow Tree to acclaim and dedicated it to George; Sam read the book but found no mention of herself. As Elisabeth drives away, Sam reflects that Elisabeth's flawed meddling, while wrong, ultimately propelled her into the life she now has. The two women part at a green light, their reunion over almost as soon as it began.