Every summer four old friends flock together at Madge's seaside house to swap stories and sip wine. Throughout divorces, children, and new marriages, only the beach house and the sisterhood that comes with it, hold constant. This time, though, something is different.Madge, a writer  who brought them all together, asks them for a risky, unthinkable favor.She has a good reason for her request.  Her friends, once they learn it, must decide with misgivings and sadness what they will do.  Madge has a gift for them, no matter what:  her take on tgheir lives over the past forty years, her last novel, stories which will change their lives.