[1] The novel examines the life of Larry Weller, an "ordinary man made extraordinary" by his unique talent for creating labyrinths.

By 1983, Larry is spending all of his spare time working on a maze around his house, and it now takes up both the front and back yards.

In 1994, Larry wins the State of Illinois award for creative excellence for his mazes, but a few months later he and Beth are separated after she accepts a teaching position in the UK, and they get divorced.

In a starred review, Publishers Weekly discussed how the novel follows the protagonist "over five decades," through which "Shields observes the changing social conventions, gender roles, vernacular idiosyncracies and moral constructs of the times, interpolating these details into the narrative with subtle wit and an unerring eye for telling details.

She also delineates the stages of life as the body ages and the future offers only the 'decline of limitless possibility,' while the mind hopes for the solace of some universal truths.

"[3] Kirkus Reviews highlighted how "each part is carefully related to the central metaphor of the garden mazes that Larry becomes expert at designing," though they noted that "the climactic chapter [...] is a blatantly contrived device—but successful in spite of its transparency."

Kirkus concluded by calling the novel "very fine and real," saying, "Shields writes with the rare self-assurance of one who from the first knows where her characters are going and what will become of them once they arrive, and—rarer still—manages not to bend them out of shape along the way.