To Be Where You Are

The 14th novel in Jan Karon's Mitford series follows retired Episcopal priest Father Tim Kavanagh, his wife, Cynthia, their adopted son, Dooley, and the wider community of Mitford, a small mountain town in North Carolina's Blue Ridge, through a season of change and renewal from October through the following June.

The story opens on the first of October with the rhythms of daily life. Father Tim, now in his late 70s, begins a caffeine-free health regimen while helping Cynthia, a children's book author and illustrator, relocate her studio within their home. Across town, Esther Bolick, an 87-year-old woman beloved for her famous Orange Marmalade Cake (OMC), dresses for a birthday luncheon honoring the town's former mayor, Esther Cunningham. Before she can leave, Esther Bolick dies. Dora Pugh, a neighbor returning a borrowed hat, discovers the body and calls Father Tim, who prays a commendation, a formal prayer for the dead. J. C. Hogan, editor of the weekly Mitford Muse, produces the paper's first special edition in Esther Bolick's honor but accidentally prints Esther Cunningham's photograph alongside the obituary, causing widespread confusion. J. C. flees town briefly before Father Tim counsels him to offer a simple, sincere apology.

At Meadowgate Farm, Dooley Kavanagh, a 26-year-old veterinarian, runs his clinic on a hundred-acre farm. He and his wife, Lace, married just over three months, are fostering four-year-old Jack Tyler ahead of a formal adoption in December. When a catastrophic plumbing failure floods the clinic, costs climb past $10,000. Lace receives a commission from Kim Dorsay, an Academy Award nominee, to paint a mural of Meadowgate farm life for Kim's Malibu home. The job would solve their financial crisis but require Lace to spend three months in Los Angeles. After agonizing, Lace refuses to leave Dooley and Jack, and the couple uses Lace's personal savings, originally set aside for Jack's college fund, to cover the repairs.

The crisis resolves when Kim visits and proposes that Lace paint the mural on canvas in her attic studio and ship it to California by December 20. Lace is elated but anxious about the 11-week deadline. She and Harley Welch, a family friend, prepare the studio by stretching linen canvas around the walls and applying gesso, a primer for painting. Lace's college roommate, Beth Middleton, resigns from Goldman Sachs in New York and comes to stay at Meadowgate, providing companionship, help with Jack's lessons, and rental income.

Dooley and Lace explain to Jack that on December 11, he will legally become Jack Brady Kavanagh. They promise a celebration with music, food, and one special present: Jack chooses a red bike. He practices his new identity, saves money for a helmet, and secretly learns to tell time as a surprise for Dooley. Lace soothes Jack's nightmares, rooted in early years with his biological grandmother, with a bedtime litany of family members, home, and phone number that grounds him in his new life.

Father Tim officiates Esther Bolick's funeral with a warm eulogy celebrating her 40 years of delivering OMCs to people in need. He recounts his own diabetic coma after consuming an entire cake, drawing laughter and applause.

Meanwhile, Avis Packard, owner of the Local grocery, struggles with anxiety over an upcoming convention speech and a persistent cough he ignores. A stray dog appears in his backyard; Avis coaxes the animal with food and names him Chucky. When a woman claims Chucky and takes him, Avis is devastated. His health deteriorates, and he collapses with bacterial pneumonia. After hospitalization, Father Tim volunteers to manage the Local six days a week with help from Avis's longtime employees and Valley farmers who volunteer their labor. Father Tim finds unexpected fulfillment in keeping the grocery alive through Thanksgiving and into the holiday season.

Dooley's 17-year-old brother, Pooh Barlowe, confides that he feels called to become a preacher. Father Tim meets with Pooh at Lord's Chapel, the local Episcopal church, for a conversation about faith and vocation, then arranges a discernment group. Pooh impresses everyone with his humility and sincerity. Father Tim and Cynthia agree to fund Pooh's first two years of college, presenting the offer to the siblings' mother, Pauline Leeper, as grace that cannot be earned or repaid. Separately, Helene Pringle, a French piano teacher, brings Father Tim a newspaper notice: Clyde Barlowe, Dooley's biological father who abandoned his five children, has died at 57.

Father Brad, the Lord's Chapel priest, organizes his annual snow camp for troubled teenagers, with Dooley's youngest sibling, Jessie Barlowe, among the participants. Jessie is struggling with drug use. During the camp, Father Brad falls into a snow-covered depression and severely sprains his ankle; Mary Ellen Middleton, Beth's mother, injures her knee trying to help. Jessie, who had secretly marked the trail planning to escape, instead hikes two miles alone down the mountain at night to summon help. At the hospital, Father Brad and Mary Ellen reveal they got engaged while awaiting rescue, and Jessie agrees to enter a detox program.

The Christmas parade on December 5 brings the town together. Coot Hendrick, an elderly town fixture, steps in as last-minute Santa when the regular volunteer falls ill, riding the fire engine and shouting holiday greetings. Esther Cunningham's float, carrying her 27 great-grandchildren, becomes the parade's centerpiece.

When Jack's Name Day, the family's celebration of his adoption, arrives on December 12, the extended family gathers at Meadowgate. Lace has completed the mural and shipped it to California. Father Tim conducts a ceremony presenting Jack with the Kavanagh family motto, Siochain agus Fairsinge ("Peace and Plenty"), and a watch engraved with his new name. During the party, Dooley's brother Kenny Barlowe arrives from Wilmington with his pregnant wife, Julie, who goes into early labor upstairs. Lace's adoptive father, Dr. Hoppy Harper, delivers the baby girl, Colleen Marie.

A pool game between Sammy Barlowe, Dooley's brother and a competitive player from Chicago, and their mother Pauline becomes a vessel for the family's unresolved grief. Pauline plays with surprising skill, and whether Sammy lets her win remains ambiguous. Afterward, she asks his forgiveness; he turns away without responding, but the exchange marks a quiet shift. Kenny separately enters the kitchen where Pauline is washing dishes and silently takes her hand, weeping. After Jack is asleep, Dooley and Lace announce that Lace is pregnant, despite a prior prognosis that injuries inflicted by her biological father had left her unable to conceive.

At Christmas, Father Tim smuggles Chucky, who appears to have walked back from Tennessee, into Avis's hospital room, marking the turning point in Avis's recovery. Father Tim gives Dooley a new X-ray machine for the clinic, purchased with savings and presented in memory of Barnabas, Father Tim's late dog. Father Brad announces his engagement at Christmas Eve Mass and publicly honors Jessie and the rescue team. Henry Kavanagh, Father Tim's brother in Mississippi, writes to announce his own engagement.

The novel closes the following June as Father Tim and Cynthia depart Mitford in a borrowed RV, fulfilling Cynthia's long-held dream. Dooley, Lace, and Jack head to a mountain cabin for a belated honeymoon. Avis, recovering and reunited with Chucky, watches from the sidewalk, then turns the Local's sign to OPEN, affirming his return to the community he nearly lost.