The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Miller, Kristen. The Change. William Morrow. 2022. Kindle.

The novel is narrated by an omniscient narrator in third-person past tense. The story takes place on an island on the East Coast called Mattauk where three older women have magical powers. After Harriet Osborne’s husband left her and her job promoted an unqualified man ahead of her, she took to her house and allowed her garden to grow wild while she developed powers of nature that enabled her to control plants and animals. While going through menopause, Jo developed heat flashes so powerful she was able to create fire with her hands. After leaving her job as a hotel manager because of sexual harassment claims, Jo opened a gym for older women. Nessa joined the gym and became friends with Jo. Nessa had inherited the gift of speaking to and hearing the ghosts of murdered girls and women.

While at her gym, Jo was disturbed when an angry man barged in and tried to confront one of her clients, Rosamund. Jo beat him up with her fiery superpowers and then called the police. However, the police said that the man, Chertov, was just a bodyguard who worked for Rosamund’s husband, the wealthy art dealer Spencer Harding. When Nessa starts hearing a ghost calling to her from the beach by Culling Pointe, the wealthiest and most exclusive neighborhood on the island, she knew she would have to find the body and help solve the murder. However, a premonition told her to go talk to Harriet, first, so she did.

Harriet agreed to help. The next morning, the three women went down to Danskammer Beach and found a body tied up in a garbage bag. Nessa saw the girl’s ghost hovering over her body, wearing a blue dress. Nessa also spotted two ghosts out at sea, hovering over the water. The women called the police and told them they suspected a serial killer was at work, but the police believed the girl was a sex-worker had died of a Fentanyl overdose. However, Nessa’s friend Franklin, who was on the force, stood up for her and promised to tell her if they found the girl’s family so she could help put the ghost to rest.

Nessa called her daughters at college and informed them what she had seen. They reminded her that one of their classmates, Mandy Welsh, had disappeared after being last seen at Danskammer Beach. Nessa looked up the case and realized that Mandy matched one of the ghosts she had seen at sea. Meanwhile, Jo was driving to the gym when she spotted Mandy’s mother, Amber, drunk and throwing flowers at the police station. Jo took Amber to Harriet’s house and talked to her about Mandy. They all agreed to meet up the next night after Amber got off work.

Harriet called her lover, Celeste, who had a boat. Celeste took the women out to the spot where Nessa had found the ghosts so Nessa could sketch them up close. An electronic drone flew over their boat. The women followed it and found a whale-watcher in Culling Pointe, Leonard, who seemed very nice. When the ladies got off the boat, Harriet’s ex-husband arrived and demanded that she undo the curse she placed on him that was preventing him from getting good ideas at work. She told him all his good ideas had come from her, but agreed to give him one if he invited her and her friends to the annual party in Culling Pointe.

A few weeks later, Jo and Harriet went to the party and met Leonard’s girlfriend, Claude, who also seemed very nice. Harriet’s ex-husband told them that Leonard was one of the richest men in the world and he owned all the land in Culling Pointe. Jo and Harriet walked along the beach and found Rosamund’s house. She seemed drugged and incoherent, but she threw an apple at them with the word “Faith” carved into it before the bodyguard, Chertov, arrived again and escorted Jo and Harriet back to the party.

The police claimed to have found the mother of the girl in the blue dress. However, when Nessa met with her, she realized she was a fake who had been paid to pretend. Nessa organized a funeral for the girl. Jo got a call from her employee at the gym telling her that the police had arrived to search Rosamund’s locker because she had died in a car accident.

Jo went to the gym and discovered Rosamund’s secret locker. It had a lock on it. Jo tried the password “Faith,” and it opened. Inside the locker, Jo found a Polaroid picture of the girl in the blue dress. That night, Chertov tried to break into Harriet’s house and attack her, but she killed him and buried him in her garden. Meanwhile, another random man tried to break into Jo’s house and kidnap her daughter, but Jo used her superpowers to beat him up and called the police.

The women called a true crime podcaster, Josh, and asked if he would do an episode on the situation on Mattauk. He agreed and they put out an episode accusing Spencer of being a serial killer. That night, Spencer’s helicopter crashed. Police Chief John Rocca pinned all the crimes on Spencer and took credit for all the investigative work the women had done.

Claude came to Jo’s gym and said she wanted to start a self-defense club for women and girls. Harriet went to Culling Pointe and met with a maid, Isabel, who told her that the men of Culling Pointe did horrible things during the winter when all their families left the island.

The police tried to arrest Harriet for growing illegal mushrooms, but she used her superpowers to make the station become overgrown with mold and also used them to kill the man who had tried to kidnap Jo’s daughter, who was in the cell next to hers.

Josh learned that John Rocca had tried to kidnap a girl, but he was killed before he could tell Nessa about it. John Rocca tried to kidnap Nessa’s daughter, but she escaped. Harriet sent John’s wife proof that he had killed and raped multiple girls, and his wife poisoned him.

Harriet and Isabel burned Culling Pointe down. A woman from Jamaica emailed Nessa and told her that the girl in the blue dress was her niece, Faith Reid. Nessa and Jo looked the girl up and discovered pictures of her with Leonard. They rushed to Culling Pointe to tell Harriet, but met up with Claude. Once inside the gates, Nessa was surrounded by a dozen ghosts.

When Claude found out that there were so many, she was shocked and angry because, she revealed, Leonard had promised her there were only three. Claude beat Leonard to death with a nine-iron and told Jo and Nessa that she had lured girls to the island for Leonard and his friends. A propane tank exploded and killed Claude. In the end, Culling Pointe was turned into a whale conservatory. Harriet found out her old boss was involved with Leonard. She set a trap for him with poisonous spiders.