In 1957, Mary Alice was a rebellious teenager in love with a rich Yankee boy who had just moved to her small Virginia mountain town-much to the chagrin of her God-fearing mother, Lavinia. By 2004, Mary Alice has become a spinster biology teacher who hasn't spoken to her mother in over forty years. When Lavinia dies, Mary Alice's niece, Claire, inherits the family house and moves to Virginia, bringing along a deep curiosity about her family's dark past-and plenty of emotional baggage of her own.