Linda Douglas, a divorced mother of three, is working as a florist past her retirement age in order to support her feckless and abusive middle-aged son. One day, she sees an ad in a small local newspaper about forming a writers' group for women who wish to try memoir writing. Even though Linda does not feel she has the talent or confidence to join the group, she does, if for no other reason than to be away from her son once in a while. Linda finds the group to be comprised of women she would never meet otherwise and, in fact, a group of women who probably would never be in the same room. They are a diverse group. The woman who began the group, Marsha, is a wealthy high-society Bostonian. There is Joyce, whose questionable career included dancing in the follies in Las Vegas and being an assistant to rock stars. Iris is a colorful southern housewife, and Millie is a scholarly intellectual who is the most interested in writing itself. The women meet biweekly at each other's homes. They take turns reading sections of their memoirs, not in any particular order, and through the stories they tell we learn the details of their lives, some of which they have never told a soul. Some question the veracity of the stories and there is an ongoing issue about how truthful a person must be when committing writing to a memoir. When does the memoir become fiction? Does it all have to be the truth? The story that continues through the memoir writing is Linda's. Linda's irresponsible and frankly cruel son is living with her again even though he is now in his mid-thirties. Linda is completely devoted to his care and tends to excuse his vicious behavior. She feels totally to blame for his circumstances and cares for him out of guilt, although to the rest of the group, it isn't clear why. Her son is determined to undermine any happiness Linda can find, including a new love in her life which he will go to any end to eliminate. What has Linda done to deserve such treatment and is it really justified? Because the women in the group are so unlike each other, the stories they tell can be shocking, dreadfully sad, funny, and plainly unbelievable. They have different voices and character, and that becomes something to look forward to as we listen to them read. Most of the women have never met anyone like the others in the group. We watch as their worlds expand with each story told. And, meanwhile, we witness Linda's son's increasingly reckless and unconscionable behavior that eventually manifests in actual, realized hate.