Summary

The novel opens with a brief prologue. It is 1983. A woman named Charlotte is on vacation at Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. She is with her husband (named Winston) and her three young children: Lee, Cord, and Regan. Charlotte sometimes feels stifled by her domestic life, but she enjoys her time with her family on this vacation. Chapter 1.1 moves ahead 32 years to begin the main narrative. Charlotte is 71 years old and lives in Savannah, Georgia. Her best friend Minnie recently died. Charlotte is shaken by the loss and feels lonely. Her husband is dead, and all of her children are now adults and live elsewhere. She decides to enter a travel contest, as she has not been able to afford a luxurious vacation in years. She submits a personal essay about a European trip she once took when she was young. She had...