Set in the fictional town of Bonhomie, Ohio, the novel begins in the exuberant aftermath of World War II Allied victory in Europe, exploring how a secret shared between two families ripples through subsequent generations. The narrative features characters like Cal Jenkins, a man wounded by his inability to serve in the war, his wife Becky who is a seer, and Margaret Salt, a woman trying to obscure her past. It is described as a “glorious sweep of a novel” by Ann Patchett and covers several transformative decades of modern American history