The Summer Place

The novel opens with a prologue narrated by a house on Cape Cod Bay that has stood for 40 years. Personified as female, the house has witnessed generations of families within her walls. As another summer approaches, the house senses urgent changes and feels compelled to help her people.

In Brooklyn, Sarah Weinberg Danhauser hosts a Friday night Shabbat dinner, the family's weekly Jewish Sabbath meal, with her husband, Eli, a periodontist; their young sons Dexter and Miles; Eli's brother Ari; and Eli's 22-year-old daughter from his first marriage, Ruby, along with Ruby's boyfriend, Gabe. Ruby announces that she and Gabe plan to marry in July on Cape Cod at the home of Sarah's mother, Ronnie. Sarah is privately dismayed by Ruby's youth and the speed of the engagement but feels powerless to object as a stepmother. She is also hurt that Ruby told Ronnie before telling her. Throughout dinner, Eli remains distracted and emotionally distant, a pattern that has worsened since the pandemic began. Ruby, meanwhile, harbors private doubts, having secretly hoped an adult would tell her no.

Through alternating perspectives, the novel reveals the backstories driving each character. Eli's first wife, Annette, left when Ruby was six months old, telling Eli she never wanted to be a mother. He raised Ruby alone for seven years before meeting Sarah. Years earlier, during a brief separation from the pregnant Annette, Eli had a three-night affair with a woman who called herself Jane. She later told him she was pregnant and asked for 600 dollars for an abortion, which he provided. When Gabe moved into the family brownstone during the pandemic, Eli was horrified to see in Gabe's face a striking resemblance to "Jane." He spent over a year in silent torment, terrified that Gabe might be his biological son and that Ruby could unknowingly be marrying her half-brother.

Veronica "Ronnie" Levy, Sarah's mother and a retired English professor, lives year-round in the Cape Cod house. In her youth, she published two bestselling novels. During her publishing years in New York, she had an affair with Gregory Bates, an editor, while engaged to her future husband, Lee Weinberg. When she became pregnant with twins, she suspected Gregory could be the father of one or both babies but chose never to find out, raising Sam and Sarah as Lee's children. She stopped publishing as self-punishment, though she continued writing privately, accumulating eight unpublished novels. Now widowed, Ronnie is alarmed when her sister Suzanne mentions sending DNA kits to Sam and Sarah, which could expose the truth. She also contacts a real estate agent about selling the house, feeling it is too large for one person.

Rosa Alvarez Andrews, Gabe's mother, grew up in Los Angeles and moved to New York to pursue singing. At 21, she became pregnant by Benji, a bass player in her cover band. Following her sister Amanda's advice, Rosa found Eli in a bar, seduced him, and told him she was pregnant, collecting 600 dollars for an abortion she never had. She returned to Los Angeles, kept the baby, and raised Gabe as a single mother, eventually becoming a nurse. When Gabe announced his engagement to Ruby, Rosa recognized Eli's name with horror and began ignoring his attempts to contact her.

Sam Levy-Weinberg, Sarah's twin, has spent his life searching for a core identity. He moved to Los Angeles and married Julie Barringer, a woman with a young son named Connor, but Julie was killed in a car accident just over a year into their marriage. Sam became Connor's legal guardian and has begun privately questioning his sexuality, though he has not come out to his family.

Meanwhile, Sarah's marriage continues to deteriorate. She rents a secret studio apartment in Manhattan, furnishing it with a bed and a rented piano. When she confronts Eli, he admits he has been a terrible husband but refuses to explain why until after the wedding. One afternoon, Sarah runs into Owen Lassiter, her first love from Cape Cod summers. Owen, now an FBI agent, reveals that he broke up with her years ago because his family was secretly broke and he felt ashamed. They reconnect and eventually sleep together at the studio.

The family converges on Cape Cod before the wedding. Ronnie tells Sam and Sarah she plans to sell the house and privately confesses to Sarah that she once had an affair, chose to give the man up, and never told Lee. Eli anxiously awaits Rosa's arrival, determined to learn whether Gabe is his son. When Gabe, Rosa, and Amanda arrive Thursday night and settle into a separate house on the property, Eli recognizes Rosa immediately as "Jane."

On the eve of the wedding, several crises erupt. Ruby, alone in the guesthouse, realizes she cannot go through with the marriage. She leaves Gabe a note and sets off on foot into the dark. Annette, who has arrived on the Cape by chance, spots Ruby on the road and picks her up, taking her to a hotel. It is the first time Annette has been truly present for her daughter.

That same night, Sam drives to Provincetown, enters a club, and is rescued by a young man who introduces himself as Anthony. They share an intensely romantic encounter on the beach, and Sam experiences a revelation about his sexuality. The next morning, he discovers through a dating app's location feature that "Anthony" is actually Gabe, staying fewer than 50 feet away. Gabe reveals that Ruby broke off the engagement. Despite the shock, Sam and Gabe acknowledge a mutual attraction.

Eli takes Rosa to the beach for a private confrontation. She confesses that she was already pregnant when she seduced him and that Gabe is not his son. Eli is overwhelmed with relief and forgives her. Sarah, however, spots Eli embracing Rosa on the beach and concludes he is having an affair. She drives to meet Owen but finds herself unable to enjoy the encounter, recognizing that he represents nostalgia rather than a real future. She says goodbye to him permanently.

Gabe announces to the family that the wedding is off. Ruby returns safely with Annette. While the household is scattered, Ronnie collapses in the kitchen. Rosa stabilizes her until paramedics arrive. At the hospital, a doctor reveals that Ronnie has advanced pancreatic cancer, diagnosed three weeks earlier, which she kept secret to avoid ruining the wedding.

That night, Eli confesses to Sarah about his affair with "Jane" and his fear that Gabe was his son. He pledges to be a better husband. Sarah accepts his apology without revealing her own infidelity. Sam sits at Ronnie's bedside; she tries to tell him something, likely about the DNA kits, but is sedated before she can finish. Late that evening, Sam tells Sarah he has found his "missing piece," hinting at a fundamental discovery about himself.

The epilogue takes place one year later. Ronnie has died, and the family gathers to scatter her ashes in the bay. Sam and Gabe are now a couple; Sam and Connor have moved to Brooklyn so Connor can attend school with his cousins and the families can share weekly Shabbat dinners. Sarah and Eli have recommitted to their marriage. Ruby works as a stage manager and has begun building a relationship with Annette. Rosa has introduced Gabe to Benji, his biological father. Sam and Sarah have decided not to sell the house, honoring Ronnie's wish for family summers together. Sarah has discovered Ronnie's unpublished novels and sent them to Gregory Bates, Ronnie's former lover and now her literary executor. The DNA kits were never used, and the secret of Sam and Sarah's paternity remains undisturbed. A fleck of Ronnie's ashes settles into the house's floorboards, and the house welcomes her spirit, promising that Ronnie will watch over her family forever from within the home she loved.