Years ago, Nora Bridge walked out on her marriage and left her daughters behind. Now she is a celebrated talk-show host and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, famous for her straightforward, moral advice. Her daughter, Ruby, is a struggling comedienne who uses Nora as fuel for her bitter humour. The two haven't spoken in more than a decade.

When the tabloids unearth a scandalous secret from Nora's past, everything changes. A magazine offers Ruby a fortune to write a tell-all about her mother, but first Ruby needs to get to know her well enough to write it. So Ruby returns to Summer Island in Washington State where she grew up. There she is reunited with her first love, a man who once broke her heart, who she has never forgiven, or forgotten.

But coming home is never simple. Nora is not the woman Ruby has imagined all these years. She is a wonderful, vulnerable, wise and funny woman who is desperate to reconcile with the daughter she once abandoned...a woman who has harboured terrible family secrets that will change forever Ruby's view of herself and the world.