Nick and her cousin, Helena, have grown up sharing sultry summers at Tiger House,the old family estate on Martha's Vineyard. As WorldWar II ends, Helena leaves for Hollywood and a new marriage, while Nick is to be reunited with her young husband Hughes. Everything is about to change. Neither finds the life she had imagined, and as the years pass, the trips to Tiger House take on a new complexity. Then, on the brink of the 1960s, Nick's daughter Daisy and Helena's son Ed make a sinister discovery. It plunges the island's bright heat into private shadow and sends a depth-charge to the heart of the family.