On July 4, 2005, the Frankel family descends upon their summer home in the Berkshires for a memorial to Leo, the youngest Frankel sibling, who was killed while on assignment in Iraq a year before. Over the course of three days, the Frankels will contend with sibling rivalries and marital feuds, volatile women and silent men, and, ultimately, the true meaning of family.

In a French courtroom, Gladys Eysenach is on trial for shooting dead her much younger lover. As witnesses take the stand and the case unfolds, Gladys relives fragments of her past, recalling a series of events that reveal the soul of a desperate woman obsessed with her lost youth.

In an attempt to gain Congressional approval for a top-secret weapons system, Washington lobbyist "Bird" McIntyre and sexy Neo-Con wonkette Angel Templeton start a rumor that the Chinese secret service is trying to assassinate the Dalai Lama. Their outrageous scheme provokes a series of crises involving the White House, the CIA, and a strangely sympathetic and vulnerable Chinese president.