Laurel Hand, the main character, travels to New Orleans from her home in Chicago to assist her aging father as a family friend and doctor operates on his eye. Laurel's father remains in the hospital for recovery for several months. During this time, Laurel begins to get to know her outsider stepmother better, as she rarely visited her father since the two were married. Fay begins to show her true self as the judge's condition worsens. To the distress of all who knew him, the judge dies after his wife throws a violently emotional fit in the hospital and confesses to cheating and interest in his money.
The two women travel back to the judge's home in Mount Salus, Mississippi for the funeral and are received by close friends of the family. Here, Laurel finds love and friendship in a community which she left after childhood. The warmth of the town clashes with Fay's dissenting and antagonistic personality. Fay, a woman from Texas who claimed to have no family other than her husband, is soon confronted by her past as her mother, siblings, and other members of her family show up to her house to attend the funeral. Though Laurel confronts Fay as to the reason why she lied, Laurel cannot help but feel anything except pity for the lonely, sullen woman. Directly after her husband's funeral, Fay leaves to go back home to Madrid, Texas with her family.
After her distraught and immature stepmother leaves, Laurel finally has time to herself in the house where she was raised, with the friends and neighbors she knew since childhood. During the few days she remains, Laurel digs through the past as she goes through the house, remembering her deceased parents and the life she had before she left Mount Salus. She rediscovers the life of friendship and love that she left behind so many years ago, along with heartache.
Her visit to her hometown and the memories of her parents open up a new insight on life for Laurel. She leaves Mount Salus with a new understanding of life and the factors which influence it the most—friends and family. But most prominently, she gains a new understanding and respect for herself.
