Anoushka calls Lila and asks for pages on her new post-divorce book, promising a significant publishing deal.

Lila discovers that Dan's new partner Marja is pregnant during school pickup, deeply shocking her.

Dan tells Lila he will be paying less child support to account for his growing new family.

Gene, Lila's estranged biological father, appears on her front lawn and her dog Truant bites him.

At a tense family dinner, Lila confronts Gene for skipping Francesca's funeral; the girls convince Lila to let him stay.

Lila meets a widowed father named Gabriel outside Violet's school and gives him her cinnamon roll for his daughter.

Lila and Jensen go out for drinks and spend an intimate night together in Bill's carpentry studio.

Feeling inspired, Lila begins translating her night with Jensen directly into her manuscript pages.

Lila and Gabriel have dinner and sleep together, but Gabriel immediately asks Lila to leave and keep it secret.

Jensen discovers manuscript pages describing their intimate night together and angrily accuses Lila of using him for her book.

Lila confronts Gabriel at a pub after learning he has been seeing her and other school mothers simultaneously.

Lila discovers a letter in the attic suggesting Francesca secretly met Gene while married to Bill, and furiously kicks Gene out.

Lila mails Jensen an apology letter and tells Anoushka she is pulling out of the book deal to protect her family.

A fallen tree traps Lila's car as she rushes to the hospital; Jensen drives her there, then returns to chop the tree away.

At Violet's school play, Jensen mediates a reconciliation between Gene and Bill, and Lila discovers Gene secretly made all the costumes.

Lila Kennedy is struggling to rebuild her life after her ex-husband Dan left her for another woman, just as her mother Francesca was killed in an accident. Her literary agent Anoushka pressures her to write a memoir about her single life, even as her estranged father Gene unexpectedly shows up needing a place to stay. Lila's attempts to date again — first a risky night with landscaper Jensen, then a confusing affair with charming widower Gabriel — unravel her sense of who she is and what she wants. Jensen discovers she has been writing about their intimate night together, and Lila soon learns Gabriel has been seeing multiple women at the same time. After a family crisis forces Lila to make amends, cancel the book, and reach out to Jensen, the people in her life finally begin to find peace with one another at Violet's school play.

The headline events of Lila's post-divorce year.

Bill hangs a large painting of a naked Francesca in the kitchen, and Lila insists he must take it down.

Celie skips school and Lila uses the Find My Phone app to track her down at a shopping center.

Gene shows up drunk at dinner; his ex Jane arrives with his boxes; Gene and Bill end up whipping each other with towels.

Truant's strange behaviour in the yard leads Lila to the shed, where she finds Gene has been secretly sleeping there.

Gene confesses to Lila that there is no acting production and that he is in debt and needs a place to stay.

Jensen opens up to Lila about his past mental health crisis and shares a Rilke quote to encourage her.

Gene takes Celie on an afternoon wander around the city after she quietly admits her former friends have turned on her.

Anoushka announces that Regent Publishers is offering Lila a six-figure deal for her post-divorce memoir.

Gene lands two new acting roles, and the whole household gathers to watch his latest television commercial together.

Jensen spontaneously helps Lila restart her vintage car and persuades her to take a top-down drive, lifting her mood unexpectedly.

Gene accompanies Lila to school pickup and publicly demands that Marja apologize to Lila for breaking up her family.

After Gene and Bill leave the house following their falling out, Lila calls Gabriel late at night and the conversation turns into phone sex.

Lila meets Jessie and tells her the truth about Gabriel; Lila also sells her vintage Mercedes to cover the lost book income.

Gene's ex Jane visits Lila and reveals she ended things with Gene because he was still in love with Francesca.

Anoushka calls Lila with an offer to ghostwrite a celebrity memoir, giving Lila a new creative and financial path forward.

While the central drama of Lila's dating life and family conflicts unfolds, a parallel layer of smaller but significant moments steadily reshapes her household. Bill's particularities, Gene's hidden truths, and Jensen's quiet acts of kindness create a fuller picture of the world Lila is navigating. Celie begins to find her footing through an unexpected bond with Gene, who proves himself far more invested in the family than anyone anticipated. Meanwhile, Lila's professional life shifts dramatically, from a lucrative memoir offer she ultimately cannot bring herself to honor to an unexpected ghostwriting lifeline. By the end of this layer of the story, every relationship in Lila's orbit — with her fathers, her daughters, her agent, and her new love interest — has been quietly but fundamentally transformed.

The quieter but essential moments that shaped Lila's year.

Eleanor challenges Lila to stop hiding behind domesticity and actively rediscover herself as a woman, not just a mother.

Celie overhears Dan's call about the baby and tells Lila she already knew, having found Marja's prenatal vitamins at his house.

After meeting Gabriel at school, Lila feels sudden electric excitement and spends the evening secretly googling him.

Lila impulsively texts Gabriel suggesting they get a drink together, taking her first deliberate step toward dating again.

Gene falls and injures himself fighting with Bill, and Lila intervenes to demand that both men finally let go of the past.

Jensen corners Lila at the dump and tells her directly that he does not appreciate being ignored after their night together.

Gabriel grows cold and distant after their night together, sending his mother to collect his daughter from school in his place.

Eleanor unexpectedly shows up at Lila's house and warns her that Gabriel is giving her just enough attention to string her along.

Lila runs into a school mother named Jessie for coffee and slowly realizes that Jessie is describing Gabriel as her mystery man.

After Gene and Bill both depart following the Dublin confrontation, Lila is left to manage the house and daughters entirely alone.

A flashback chapter reveals Francesca willingly initiated the Dublin reunion with Gene, slept with him, and then chose to return to Bill.

Dan unexpectedly defends Lila against other school parents in a public confrontation, leading to a genuinely warm exchange between them.

Bill moves out of Lila's house to recover at home; Jensen later stops by for his bench and the two make amends over tea.

Celie spontaneously stands up and cheers loudly for Hugo when he freezes on stage during Violet's school play, and Lila joins in.

Lila and Celie set off together to visit Dan, Marja, Hugo, and their newborn baby, signalling a final family reconciliation.

Beneath the surface of Lila's chaotic year runs a series of pivotal moments where the truth shifts, choices are made, and characters are forced to confront who they really are. From Eleanor's early challenge to Lila to stop hiding, to the slow unravelling of Gabriel's deceptions, to the shocking revelation about Francesca's past, each turning point reshapes how Lila understands herself and those she loves. Gene's transformation from unwanted intruder to devoted grandfather is earned through quiet, meaningful acts — many of which go unnoticed until it is almost too late. A hidden affair, a protective lie, and a hard-won reconciliation all converge at Violet's school play. By the novel's close, Lila and Celie walk together toward Dan's new family, embodying the forgiveness and openness that this entire emotional journey has been building toward.