Sara Elliott has been forced to give up her own dreams to return home to Chicago and take charge of her young sisters and brother. She finds a job and settles into the house where she grew up, building a life for ten-year-old Doug and teenagers Carrie and Abby.

But Sara has another brother. Mack, now twenty, suddenly reappears, cheerful and unconcerned, as if he had never broken his promise to help Sara with the children. With bewildering volatility, Mack swings from kindness to cruelty, affection to hostility, keeping the family on edge, his past and present a mystery. But Mack is winning over the children and sometimes the four of them stand together against Sara.

And then, when she thinks her life has room only for work and family, Sara meets Reuben Lister, a client from New York. As Sara helps him find and furnish a house, they discover a closeness neither has known before. Together, Sara and Reuben find answers to the questions: What is a mother? What is a parent? What is a family?

This is Judith Michael’s most poignant exploration of the pressures and joys facing modern adults and children, in a story that will resonate with everyone for its universal themes and discoveries.