Elena Richardson is this perfect American woman, wife and mother of four. For her, there is only right and wrong, nothing in between. Then arrive Mia Warren and her daughter Pearl, who rent a house from the Richardsons. Soon the two families’ lives get intertwined, and several bonds between the two mothers and the five children are woven. Mia and Pearl’s past is blurry and intrigues Elena, who goes and digs out the truth. She will finally confront Mia with her past and her version of the truth, destroying the lives of everyone around her.
“I don’t know, honestly. But she will. Sometimes, just when you think everything’s gone, you find a way.” Mia racked her mind for an explanation. “Like a prairie fire. I saw one, years ago, when we were in Nebraska. It seems like the end of the world. The earth is all scorched and black and everything green is gone. But after the burning the soil is richer, and new things can grow.” She held Izzy at arm’s length, wiped her cheek with a fingertip, smoothed her hair one last time. “People are like that, too, you know. They start over. They find a way.”