A boat crash near the lighthouse throws Daniel Larkin overboard and Topher Ryan dives in to pull him from the water.

Cait tells young Maggie that Daniel Larkin has died, adding that everything between their families is now different.

Maggie picks the lock on Topher's bedroom door and discovers him hanging in the den off his room.

Maggie and her girlfriend Isabel drive to the Ryan family home on Long Island for the Thanksgiving weekend.

Cait announces to the Ryan family that she has invited Luke Larkin to Thanksgiving dinner, shocking and enraging everyone.

Alice discovers a worn shoebox of condolence cards in Nora's closet, including an unopened letter from Mrs. Larkin.

Isabel finds a hidden text from Sarah on Maggie's phone and confronts her; Maggie confesses that Sarah is the mother of one of her students.

Maggie impulsively jumps onto the departing train and confesses the full truth about her past with Sarah to Isabel.

The train stops due to frozen tracks and Isabel agrees to return to the Folly with Maggie.

At the Thanksgiving dinner table, Cait publicly implies that Luke's professional success was funded by the Larkin lawsuit settlement.

Nora reveals to her children for the first time that the Larkin wrongful-death settlement totaled over one million dollars.

Robert shoots the raccoon in the driveway, then calls his grandson James by Topher's name before the gun accidentally discharges again.

A police officer arrives at the Folly to inform the family that Finn has been found injured after sneaking out.

At a church, Alice and Nora discuss Maggie's relationship and Alice's pregnancy; Nora admits she cannot forgive herself for failing to protect Topher.

The three sisters open Mrs. Larkin's condolence card, read her message of sorrow, and burn the generic sympathy cards together.

The novel opens with a 1990 boating accident that kills Daniel Larkin and sets in motion a quarter-century of grief and estrangement for both the Ryan and Larkin families. Years later, Topher Ryan's suicide deepens the family's wounds and locks each sister in unresolved trauma that they carry into adulthood. In 2015, the three sisters reunite at their Long Island home for Thanksgiving, where Cait's impulsive decision to invite Luke Larkin shatters the family's fragile peace. Secrets erupt at the dinner table as Cait publicly confronts Luke about the lawsuit settlement, Nora reveals its true staggering amount, and Robert's confusion over his grandson's name exposes the depth of his buried grief. After Finn's accident brings the family to a crisis point, Alice and Nora reach a hard-won understanding at the church, and the sisters collectively find release by opening Mrs. Larkin's long-hidden condolence card and burning the hollow sympathy cards in the fireplace.

The headline events that fracture and ultimately reunite the Ryan family.

The night before the accident, Cait has sex with Luke for the first time, and he warns her that Topher is dealing drugs.

Alice learns that Cait ordered a nearly five-thousand-dollar catering spread for the Thanksgiving dinner without consulting her.

Alice discovers a pornographic magazine in her son Finn's duffel bag just before his basketball game.

Alice vomits violently at Finn's basketball game after nausea overtakes her during the drive to a client meeting.

Alice stops at a gas station after Finn's game, takes a pregnancy test, and is devastated by the positive result.

Alice secretly stuffs her positive pregnancy test into the outdoor garbage bin at the Folly to hide the evidence.

Cait arrives at the Folly with the twins to find her father brandishing a shotgun to hunt a raccoon in the yard.

Cait plans a romantic visit to Luke under the guise of a pizza run, but Maggie and Poppy insist on joining her.

At dawn, Maggie sneaks to the guest cottage and reconciles with Isabel by sharing the story of Nora outing her to the family priest.

A raccoon tears into the garbage on Thanksgiving morning and five-year-old Augustus retrieves Alice's discarded pregnancy test.

Alice tells Kyle she is pregnant and they argue sharply when she reveals she intends to terminate the pregnancy.

Luke and Cait share a kiss in the guest cottage before a gunshot outside abruptly interrupts them.

Nora reveals to Alice that she lost a pregnancy before her marriage and offers unconditional support for Alice's decision.

Maggie discovers that Headmaster Cunningham's meeting is not disciplinary but an offer of the English department chair position.

Cait announces at breakfast that she and the twins are leaving London and moving back to the Folly permanently.

Before the Thanksgiving gathering even begins, each sister is already burdened with private crises that mirror the family's larger pattern of concealment. Cait's night with Luke on the eve of Daniel's accident introduced her to secrets that would haunt her for decades, while in the present, Alice discovers an unwanted pregnancy and immediately attempts to bury the evidence. As the weekend unfolds, the holiday logistics pile on additional stress, and reconciliations and confrontations play out behind closed doors—from Maggie and Isabel's private reckoning in the guest cottage to the charged argument between Alice and Kyle about the pregnancy. A romantic near-miss between Luke and Cait is cut short by a gunshot, and later an honest conversation forces them to redefine their relationship. Resolution comes quietly and privately for each sister: Alice finds unexpected grace from Nora, Maggie receives career-changing news, and Cait makes the most significant commitment of all by deciding to move back home permanently.

The hidden pressures and private crises simmering beneath the Thanksgiving reunion.

Paramedics load an injured Daniel Larkin onto a stretcher while Cait explains to Maggie that the boat's steering wheel jammed during the crash.

The lighthouse view from Maggie's childhood bedroom triggers a vivid flashback to the moment she discovered Topher's body hanging in his den.

Maggie receives a text from Sarah asking to talk and hides it from Isabel rather than confessing their past relationship.

Alice recalls sitting on the stairs as a child and overhearing her parents discuss the devastating terms of the Larkin wrongful-death lawsuit.

Maggie recalls arriving at Sarah's brownstone to seek closure, being kissed by Sarah, and being caught by Sarah's husband Frank.

Topher arrives drunk at Cait's apartment before her bar exam; she throws him out, accusing him of always trying to destroy himself.

Maggie finds Robert secretly gifting his prized antique train collection to the grandchildren and quietly pockets a green caboose for herself.

Alice draws a tarot card while silently asking whether she must continue her pregnancy, then panics and refuses to hear the reading.

Cait arrives at the Thanksgiving dinner to find that Luke has brought a colleague named Nicole, whom she perceives as a romantic date.

Robert slams his hand on the dinner table to silence the erupting confrontation about the Larkin lawsuit settlement money.

Alone in the guest cottage, Luke reveals to Cait that he once offered to return the settlement money to Robert, who refused.

A flashback reveals that Cait blackmailed Topher into leaving the boat party early with Daniel, directly causing Daniel to take the wheel.

Cait confesses to Luke at a bar that she orchestrated the events that put an intoxicated Daniel behind the wheel of the boat.

Luke confesses to Cait that he bought the beer Daniel drank on the day of the fatal boat accident.

Maggie and Nora have a late-night conversation in the painting studio where Nora admits she feared Maggie would live a lonely life.

The novel is propelled by a series of revelations about guilt, accountability, and buried truth that surface gradually across the Thanksgiving weekend. From the chaos surrounding Daniel's death to the hidden text that fractures Maggie and Isabel's relationship, each event peels back another layer of the family's carefully maintained secrets. Key flashbacks expose the choices that led to Daniel's fatal accident and to Topher's undoing, while present-day confrontations force each character to decide whether to keep hiding or finally speak. The dinner table becomes a battleground where long-suppressed truths explode into the open, and private conversations afterward allow Luke and Cait to finally share the guilt they have each carried alone for decades. The pool concludes with the most intimate turning point of all: Nora quietly admitting, for the first time, that her deepest fear was not of Maggie's sexuality but that Maggie would live without love.

The revelations and pivotal decisions that force the Ryan family to reckon with the past.