After a lifetime spent trying to outrun the humiliation her own book caused her, Henrietta has reluctantly agreed to a reissue of The Inseparables, the salaciously filthy and critically despised bestseller she wrote decades earlier. At the same time, her daughter, Oona --- in the middle of a divorce --- has moved back home to the house that Henrietta needs to sell. And Oona's teenage daughter, Lydia, is facing an onslaught of scrutiny and shame when a nude photo of her goes viral. Over the course of a few tumultuous days, the Olyphant women must come to terms with their past and try to reimagine their future.

During the summer of 1952, attorney Arthur Wise’s teenage son, Hilly, makes friends with a black man named Lem Dawson. When Hilly finds himself falling for Lem's niece, Savannah, his affection for her collides with his father's dark secrets. Years later, Hilly sets out to find Savannah, in an attempt to right the wrongs he helped set in motion. But can his guilt, and his good intentions, overcome the forces of history, family and identity?