Lark Smith has always had a plan for her life: find a fantastic guy, create a marriage as blissful as her parents’, pop out a couple of kids, and build a rewarding career as an oncologist. Things aren’t going so well. For one, the guy didn’t work out. Two, she’s just been transferred out of oncology for being too emotional. Three, her parents just split up. A potential solution comes from the foul-tempered and renowned surgeon Lorenzo Santini (aka Dr. Satan), who needs a date this summer for his sister’s wedding. In exchange, he could make a few introductions and maybe get Lark back into the field of her choice. As a sucker for old people and fake relationships, Lark agrees. But she instantly falls for his big, warm family. Especially his estranged brother. Meanwhile, Lark’s mom has moved in with Lark’s colorful landlady, Joy, and an unlikely friendship blossoms.

A kid walks into your bookstore and… Guess what? He’s your son. The one you put up for adoption 18 years ago. The one you never told anyone about. Surprise! It’s a huge surprise to his adoptive mother, Monica, who thought she had a close relationship with Matthew, her nearly adult son. But apparently, he felt the need to secretly arrange a vacation to Cape Cod for the summer so he could meet his birth mother…without a word to either her or his dad. It’s also a surprise to Harlow, the woman who secretly placed her baby for adoption so many years ago. When Matthew walks into Harlow’s store, she faints. Monica panics. And all their assumptions --- about what being a parent really means --- explode. This summer will be full of more surprises as both their families are redefined.

Lillie Silva knew life as an empty nester would be hard, but when her husband abruptly dumps her for another woman, her world comes crashing down. Now, alone for the first time in her life, she finds herself going a little rogue. Is it over the top to crash her ex-husband’s wedding dressed like the angel of death? Sure! Should she release a skunk into his perfect new home? Probably not! But it beats staying home and moping. She finds an unexpected ally in her glamorous sister, with whom she’s had a tense relationship all these years. And an unexpected babysitter in, of all people, Ben Hallowell, the driver in a car accident that nearly killed Lillie 20 years ago. And then there’s Ophelia, her ex-husband’s oddly lost niece, who could really use a friend.

Joshua and Lauren are the perfect couple. Newly married, they're wildly in love, each on a successful and rewarding career path. Then Lauren is diagnosed with a terminal illness. As Lauren's disease progresses, Joshua struggles to make the most of the time he has left with his wife and to come to terms with his future --- a future without the only woman he's ever loved. He's so consumed with finding a way to avoid the inevitable ending that he never imagines his life after Lauren. But Lauren has a plan to keep her husband moving forward. A plan hidden in the letters she leaves him. In those letters, one for every month in the year after her death, Lauren leads Joshua on a journey through pain, anger and denial.

Barb and John Frost, married almost 50 years, are testy and bored with each other. Who could blame them after all this time? At least they have their daughters --- Barb's favorite, the perfect, brilliant Juliet; and John's darling, the free-spirited Sadie. But when John suffers a stroke, their house of cards comes tumbling down. Now Sadie has to put her career as a teacher and struggling artist in New York on hold to come back and care for her beloved dad --- and face the love of her life, whose heart she broke, and who broke hers. Now Juliet has to wonder if people will notice that she's spending an increasing amount of time in the closet having panic attacks. And now Barb and John will finally have to face what's been going on in their marriage all along.

When Emma London's mother died, her father abandoned her on his mother's doorstep. Genevieve took Emma in and reluctantly raised her --- until Emma got pregnant her senior year of high school. Genevieve kicked her out with nothing but the clothes on her back...but Emma took with her the most important London possession: the strength not just to survive but to thrive. And indeed, Emma has built a wonderful life for herself and her teenage daughter, Riley. So what is Emma to do when Genevieve does the one thing Emma never expected of her and, after not speaking to her for nearly two decades, calls and asks for help?

Emerson, Georgia and Marley have been best friends ever since they met at a weight-loss camp as teens. When Emerson tragically passes away, she leaves one final wish for her best friends: to conquer the fears they still carry as adults. For Marley, it's coming to terms with the survivor's guilt she's carried around since her twin sister's death, which has left her blind to the real chance for romance in her life. For Georgia, it's about learning to stop trying to live up to her mother's and brother's ridiculous standards, and learning to accept the love her ex-husband has tried to give her. But as Marley and Georgia grow stronger, the real meaning of Emerson's dying wish becomes truly clear.

The Tufts scholarship that put Nora Stuart on the path to becoming a Boston medical specialist was a step forward. Being hit by a car and then overhearing her boyfriend hit on another doctor when she thought she was dying? Two major steps back. There’s only one place to land: home. But the tiny Maine community she left 15 years ago doesn’t necessarily want her. At every turn, someone holds the prodigal daughter of Scupper Island responsible for small-town drama and big-time disappointments. Balancing loss and opportunity, dark events from her past with hope for the future, Nora will discover that tackling old pain makes room for promise…and the chance to begin again.

For 10 years, Connor O'Rourke has been waiting for Jessica Dunn to take their on-again, off-again relationship public, and he thinks the time has come. When he pops the question, however, her answer is a fond but firm no. If it ain't broke, why fix it? What she and Connor have is perfect: friends with an excellent benefits package. Besides, with her difficult past (and reputation), she's positive married life isn't for her. But this time, Connor says it's all or nothing. If she doesn't want to marry him, he'll find someone who does.

Letting go of her ex-husband is harder than wedding-dress designer Jenny Tate expected…especially since his new wife wants to be Jenny's new best friend. So Jenny decides to move back to her hometown, where she'll start her own business, bask in her sister Rachel's picture-perfect family life, and maybe even find a little romance of her own with Leo, her downstairs neighbor. Rachel's idyllic marriage, however, is imploding after she discovers her husband sexting with a colleague.