Chapter 1 Summary

Tom Wingo, his wife, Sallie, and their three daughters are sitting on their porch overlooking the harbor and the Atlantic Ocean. Into this idyllic scene, the grating ring of the telephone brings a sense of disharmony. Tom knows it is his mother and does not want to speak with her, though his wife insists because it seems to be a matter of importance. When Tom finally agrees to speak with his mother, she tells him she has bad news and wants to come to his house to tell him. Tom threatens, tongue in cheek, to divorce Sallie because she made him talk to his mother over the phone.

Tom and Sallie's three beautiful daughters - Jennifer, Chandler and Lucy - come running up from the dunes and enter into banter with their father, asking him why he hates their grandmother. They also want...