The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Sweeney, Cynthia D. Good Company. HarperCollins, 2021.

On the morning of her daughter Ruby's graduation from private school, Flora Mancini is searching everywhere for a certain photograph she wants to frame and present to Ruby as a gift that night. The photo was taken 13 summers earlier, when Ruby was five, at their friends' place in upstate New York, and it also includes Flora's best friend Margot and her husband David. Flora remembers to search a file cabinet in their garage, and she soon uncovers an envelope of photos containing her quarry, and when she empties the contents of the envelope out falls a gold wedding ring which she instantly recognizes as Julian's he claimed to have lost that summer of the photo.

After Ruby's lavish graduation party at Margot's bland mansion, Flora confronts Julian about the ring, and he pours himself a whiskey before settling in for his confession. A year or so before the photo, a few years into his marriage when Ruby was barely out of diapers, Julian had run into an old girlfriend from his acting company whom both Flora and Margot had always detested as a desperate, manic troublemaker. The affair began soon after and occupied many late nights away from Flora and Ruby he claimed he was working, and his lame excuses to Flora are made worse by his assuring her how little the affair meant. He admits lying about losing the ring in the pond after a swim at his partner Ben's estate in Stoneham, in Upstate New York, when in truth the ring had fallen out of his pocket after he had taken it off when visiting his mistress, Sydney. She in turn, kept the ring out of spite and wore it on a chain until one night that winter when Sydney and Margot are roommates during the run of an out-of-town trial for a new play by an old friend of Margot's and Julian's from their drama school days together in New York. In the bathroom one night, Margot also recognizes the ring from its inscription, as she was present the day Flora and Julian bought them. As soon as Margot got back to New York, she confronted Julian about the ring, and he admitted everything, promising that he had already broken things off with Sydney. Julian and Margot agree that Flora must never know about the affair, and Julian promises to take care of the ring, which he failed to do well.

After Julian's endless apologizing and pleading for a continued chance to prove his love and commitment, Flora begins to question the whole foundation of her marriage and 20 year relationship with him, and she reflects on his early episodes of unfaithfulness. As devastated as she is about the news that Julian cheated on her and lied about it for 13 years, Flora must also confront the complicity of her best friend. The betrayal Flora feels from Margot's choosing loyalty to Julian over the truth with Flora leads Flora to wonder is she will ever be able to trust and be friends with Margot again. Ruby's distress over her home situation compounds her discomfort around her boyfriend's churlish family on vacation in brutally hot Spain, and she begins to look forward to seeing her parents at the airport in New York and going to Stoneham for the annual outdoor theater performance. Soon after arriving at Stoneham, Flora gets word that Margot has been fired from her lead role on a soapy hospital drama and will be coming back to Stoneham for the first time in 13 years. Flora resents what seems like another attempt by Margot to dominate the conversation, and she ignores Margot's repeated messages, which also seem to be all about Margot's feelings.

Flora packs a bag and runs off to New York, where she stays with an old Good Company friend from the early days and reconnects other old acting friends and immerses herself in the live theater experience. She loves how it feels to be back there with new confidence and awareness, and she decides she wants to stay on there and explore new opportunities after Ruby goes off to college soon. As soon as Ruby steps off the plane and sees Julian waiting for her at JFK airport, she bursts into tears with the news that her boyfriend had just broken up with her at the airport, and Julian is dreading the moment she realizes that Julian is alone and wonders where Flora is. Just then, Ruby begins walking across the arrival hall, and Julian sees Flora walking to meet her with a warm embrace, and the three exit together. Flora and Julian withhold the truth from Ruby, except to explain Flora's decision to stay alone in New York as an experiment in being coastal, which satisfies Ruby though she knows there is more to it. After the climactic performance of the Cherry Orchard, in which Julian chops down a favorite tree recently now dying from rot in an act of what Flora perceives as atonement, he calls for her after collapsing in exhaustion and she goes to him.