Rusty van Wolkenten, an artist in her late thirties living with her husband, Sam, in San Francisco, is returning home to a small plantation on an island off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. She is seeking answers from the three people who know her best: Fred, her irascible but loving father who can hurt or edify with just the choice of a word; Clarice, her not-entirely-of-this-world mother whose biggest decision each day is which one of her colorful umbrellas to choose, and the laconic but wise, Willie Belle, the family cook who has been with the van Wolkentens since Rusty's birth....