Jill McCorkle takes us on a journey through time and memory as the residents, staff, and neighbors of the Pine Haven retirement center share some of life's most profound discoveries. Among them are retired third-grade teacher, Sadie, who believes we are all eight years old in our hearts; Stanley, a prominent lawyer feigning dementia to escape life with his son; Marge Walker, the town's self-appointed conveyor of social status who keeps a scrapbook of every local murder and heinous crime; and Rachel Silverman, recently widowed, whose decision to leave her Massachusetts home and settle in Fulton is a mystery to everyone but her. C.J., the pierced and tattooed young mom who runs the beauty shop, and Joanna, the hospice volunteer who discovers that her path to a good life lies with helping folks achieve good deaths, are two of the staff on whom the residents depend.