An artist in the 1930s finds herself caught between duty and her unorthodox desires.Cascade, Massachusetts, 1935. Desdemona Hart Spaulding, a talented young artistwho studied in Paris, has sacrificed her dreams of working in New YorkCity to put a roof over her newly bankrupt and ailing father's head. Two months later he has died and Dez is bound by the promises she has madeto her father, her husband, and her town. Stifled by her marriage tokind but conservative Asa, who is impatient to start a family, herambitions are fading. Dez also stands to lose her father's legacy, theCascade Shakespeare Theatre, as Massachusetts decides whether to floodCascade to create a new reservoir for Boston.Amid this turmoil arrives Jacob Solomon, a fellow artist and kindred spirit for whom Dezfeels an immediate and strong attraction. As their relationship reaches a pivotal moment, a man is found dead and the town points its collectivefinger at Jacob, a Jewish outsider. When unexpected acclaim and a chance to recapture her lost dreams of life in New York City arise, Dez mustmake an impossible choice.CASCADE interweaves a town's impending destruction and America's struggles during the Depression with small-town anti-Semitism and the bohemian art world of Greenwich Village.