Here's to Us

The novel opens with a prologue set in 1976. Thirteen-year-old Deacon Thorpe's father, Jack, a line chef at Sardi's in New York City, takes him on a rare day trip to Nantucket Island. At the Sankaty Head Beach Club, Deacon swims in the pool, and on the beach he finds a clamshell with a swirl of blue inside. During the golden hour before sunset, Deacon senses his father's melancholy and understands the day is a farewell. One week later, Jack leaves the family for good.

Six weeks after Deacon's death from a massive heart attack at age 53, his agent and best friend, John Buckley (Buck), assembles Deacon's family at American Paradise, the summer cottage on Nantucket where Deacon died alone. Buck's purpose is twofold: to scatter Deacon's ashes and to address his financial ruin. As executor, Buck has discovered that Deacon wired a million dollars from his savings to save his restaurant, the Board Room, after Scarlett Oliver, Deacon's third wife, saw her uncle pull his investment. Deacon also funded a failed venture called Skinny4Life, paid for his son Hayes's apartment, and covered his youngest daughter Ellery's tuition, all while neglecting three mortgages on the house. Unless the estate produces over $436,000, the bank will repossess American Paradise by July 1.

The narrative shifts among the perspectives of Deacon's family as they converge on the island over a long weekend. Angie, Deacon's adopted daughter and the fire chief (who manages the cooking fire) at the Board Room, is secretly involved with Joel Tersigni, the restaurant's married dining room manager. Laurel Simmons, Deacon's first wife and a social worker in the Bronx, guards a secret: While Deacon was married to Belinda Rowe, his second wife, Laurel and Deacon took a clandestine trip to St. John in the Virgin Islands. Hayes, Deacon and Laurel's 34-year-old son and a hotels editor at Fine Travel magazine, is using heroin on an Indonesian island; his addiction has escalated to multiple daily injections. Belinda, an Academy Award-winning actress married to horse trainer Bob Percil, dreads encountering Laurel and self-medicates with Ativan to manage her terror of flying and water, since she never learned to swim.

Interspersed flashback chapters trace Deacon's life. After Jack's departure, Deacon's mother abandoned him and his sister to an aunt in Dobbs Ferry, New York, where Laurel befriended him on his first day of school. Pregnant at 19, Laurel gave up her Vassar admission; they married, and Deacon enrolled at the Culinary Institute of America. His career took off with a chef position at a Manhattan restaurant called Solo and a late-night TV show. With the advance money, they bought American Paradise, a purchase Deacon connected to his father's memory. Further flashbacks trace his subsequent marriages and financial decline.

Laurel arrives first on Saturday and claims the master bedroom, assigning Belinda to the cramped former nursemaid's quarters. Buck arrives, and on the back deck where Deacon died, the two share an emotional moment interrupted when Belinda appears. Tensions surface immediately: Laurel tells Belinda she falls "beneath my consideration." While Laurel is in town, Belinda seduces Buck. He is consumed with guilt, knowing he has likely destroyed any chance with Laurel.

Angie and Hayes arrive by ferry. Hayes looks gaunt, but Angie attributes his appearance to the journey from Indonesia. A costumed taxi driver called Pirate takes them to the house. Angie clashes with Belinda and storms out, encountering JP Clarke, a Nantucket ranger and friend of Deacon's who found Deacon's body. Angie tries calling Joel, but his wife, Dory, answers. Dory reveals she knows about the affair and that Joel slept with two other employees before Angie. Devastated, Angie cries for the first time since Deacon's death.

At Saturday dinner, Buck reveals the foreclosure crisis. Belinda could pay her share but refuses to cover the rest; Laurel will not accept Belinda's money. That night, Hayes calls Pirate to take him to score drugs and is severely beaten and robbed.

On Sunday, JP takes Angie for an archery lesson and shares a story Deacon told him about first holding baby Angie, calling her "the finest surprise of my life." JP reveals that his girlfriend, Molly, had a miscarriage and later left him for a friend. Scarlett arrives unexpectedly with her nine-year-old daughter, Ellery, her hair cut into a pixie as an act of mourning. She demands the master bedroom, insisting on her status as Deacon's widow. Ellery bonds with Belinda, whom she knows only as "Miss Kit Kat" from the HBO series Boarding. Laurel and Scarlett bike to a pond and swim together. Laurel confesses she was the woman Deacon took to St. John, and the two embrace in the water, sharing their grief.

At Sunday dinner, Scarlett reveals Laurel's St. John secret to Belinda, and the table erupts. Scarlett also discloses why she left Deacon: He got drunk, went to a strip club, and forgot to pick up Ellery from school. That night, Buck confesses to Laurel that he has loved her for 30 years and admits the encounter with Belinda. Laurel is furious. Belinda discovers heroin in Hayes's bag and gives him an ultimatum: Tell Laurel, or she will. After Belinda leaves, Hayes injects the heroin.

On Monday, the ashes arrive. Joel appears uninvited at the house, thrown out by Dory. Scarlett confesses to Buck that she intentionally got pregnant to keep Deacon and that she was having an affair with Bo Tanner, her old boyfriend from Savannah, which led to her uncle pulling his investment. A flashback reveals that Deacon hired a private investigator who discovered Jack had lived on Long Island, working as a cook at a Denny's, and died in a car crash in 1997.

The family boards JP's wooden launch, the Lena Marie, to scatter the ashes in Nantucket Sound. Each person takes a turn except Scarlett. Belinda, backing away from Scarlett who is trying to apologize, falls off the boat, and JP dives in to rescue her. Back at the house, Joel lavishes attention on Scarlett rather than Angie. When Bo Tanner arrives, Angie fires Joel. That evening, Laurel and Buck make love for the first time. Afterward, Hayes tells Laurel he has a heroin addiction.

After midnight, Laurel, Scarlett, and Belinda converge in the kitchen, unable to sleep. They share shots of Jameson, and Belinda announces she will pay off all three mortgages, not for Laurel or Scarlett, but for their children and future grandchildren. The three women measure themselves on the door frame alongside the children's marks, signing their names and the date.

On Tuesday, Hayes enters a 28-day rehab program arranged by Buck. Angie commits to staying on Nantucket for the summer to work on Deacon's cookbook and continue her archery lessons with JP. Belinda plans to return for swimming lessons.

An epilogue shifts to Deacon's perspective on his final day. He comes to say good-bye to the house he knew he was losing. He revisits the Beach Club, swims in the ocean, and watches the sunset on the evening he dies. Brief epilogues reveal future outcomes: Hayes and Angie co-author a posthumous cookbook called Legacy; Scarlett marries Bo Tanner; Belinda divorces Bob; and Laurel and Buck marry at American Paradise the following September.