Rachel and Drew Snow may be sisters, but their lives have followed completely different paths. When their deferential Japanese mother, Hikari, is diagnosed with dementia and gives Rachel power of attorney, Rachel’s domineering father, Killian, becomes enraged. In a rare moment of lucidity, Hikari asks Rachel for a book in her sewing room, and Rachel enlists her sister’s help in the search. The book reveals truths about Drew and Rachel’s relationship that resonate across the centuries, connecting them in ways that turn their differences into assets.

Thirty-six-year-old Gal Garner lives a regimented life. Only at home, in her garden, does she come alive. It's here that she experiments with Hulthemia roses. But even her passion has a highly structured goal: Gal wants to win Queen of Show in a major competition and bring that rose to market. Then one afternoon Gal's teenaged niece Riley, the daughter of her estranged sister, arrives unannounced. Neither one of them will ever be the same.