Tim Farnsworth is a handsome, healthy man, aging with the grace of a matinee idol. His wife Jane still loves him, and for all its quiet trials, their marriage is still stronger than most. Despite long hours at the office, he remains passionate about his work, and his partnership at a prestigious Manhattan law firm means that the work he does is important. And, even as his daughter Becka retreats behind her guitar, her dreadlocks and her puppy fat,...

Sarah Walters becomes increasingly disenchanted with undercurrents of barbarism in her Southern community and relocates to New York, where she and fellow displaced Southerners struggle to make sense of the city's sophistication.