The Cobhams have wealth, beauty and almost too much spirit. But now that the controlling patriarch is dead, the heirs must come together to sort out the estate and sharpen some long-buried hatchets. The lotus flowers blooming in Santa Barbara are not soothing to the Cobhams. When sisters Kate and Maddie meet after a long separation, they discover that the estate is depleted, their brother Geoffrey is dying of AIDS in San Francisco and brother James is encountered only in a legal battle as Kate fights against his real estate plans.

Finding common ground in their family past, the sisters decide to honor their ancestors with more than a few good martinis at their favorite cafe. As they create a book based on the experiences of the colonial Cobhams, the sisters begin to hear "other echoes" of a different time, a time still alive and lingering in their own blood.