A loving family's uncomfortable secret. A good cop's tragic mistake. A small town facing fractures that could drive it apart, or knit it back together.

Six years after the events of THE AWFUL MESS, tensions run high in Lawson, New Hampshire after a Somali Bantu refugee family moves in. Can the same people who welcomed Mary Bellamy and her scandalous pregnancy open their hearts to newcomers who appear to have far less in common with them?

When a horrific accident involving town cop Winslow Jennings highlights those differences, it's not just the town but both families that face difficult choices. It will be a new challenge for a marriage already coping with secondary infertility, a cranky old man who won't turn the television down, and an uncomfortable secret about their son's paternity.

Meanwhile, food pantry director Annie Soper faces a sustained campaign against her from a wealthy newcomer who appears to feel Annie's too fat to do the job. (Never mind that Annie's a volunteer.) A Scottish ex-pat distracts Annie from her troubles with the possibility of a second-chance romance, but he's just passing through town. And surely by now she knows better to trust any man. Right?

Author Sandra Hutchison returns to the Jennings family and their friends and family with this novel about the challenges of loving our neighbors as ourselves. It stands alone, but you might prefer to read the series in order to avoid major spoilers for the earlier book.