Vida's eighth child is finally in kindergarten when she discovers another is on the way."Conflicted" doesn't begin to describe her feelings. And when she starts to descend into what herfix-it husband labels "denial," her marriage grows increasingly fragile, and her frightenedhusband and children fear for her sanity. In addition, she has endured a miscarriage and the lossof stillborn twins, making her increasingly fearful that she's in danger of losing the child she'scarrying. She also has to deal with her agoraphobic mother, who hasn't been out of the house inforty years, and with her family's misunderstanding of her mother's value as a human being.