[1][2] Set in Maine in the fictional coastal town of Crosby, it comprises 13 stories that are interrelated but narratively discontinuous and non-chronological.

HBO produced a 2014 four-part miniseries adaptation featuring Frances McDormand in the title role and Richard Jenkins as her character's husband.

[7] The first story centers on Henry Kitteridge, the pharmacist of the town of Crosby and husband of Olive, and his relationship with an employee, Denise Thibodeau.

Henry daydreams of taking care of Denise after the death of her husband, though he still loves his cantankerous wife Olive.

Angie O'Meara, who plays piano at the Warehouse Bar and Grill, is an alcoholic who can only perform in front of people when she is drunk.

One winter evening she sees her ex-boyfriend Simon in the audience and she calls her married lover, Malcolm, to break off their relationship.

Harmon, who runs the local hardware store, begins an affair with the widow Daisy Foster after his wife, Bonnie, informs him she is no longer interested in sex.

Harmon observes Tim Burnham and his girlfriend Nina and is intrigued by their loose attitudes towards drugs and sex.

These events cause Harmon to realize he is in love with Daisy and he rents Tim and Nina's former home, in preparation for leaving Bonnie.

She asks Olive to dispose of a basket filled with pamphlets for vacation packages which Marlene now feels unable to look at.

Winnie's sister Julie is left at the altar by her fiancé Bruce, who tells her he wants to continue dating, but does not want to get married.

The penultimate story focuses on Rebecca Brown, the daughter of a minister, who starts to develop kleptomania after her father's death and fantasizes about burning things.

After Henry's death, Olive meets widower Jack Kennison, a retired professor, after she finds him having fainted on a walking path.

The magazine's critical summary reads: "While Strout deftly captures the spirit of small-town life, Olive Kitteridge—in its exploration of family dynamics, loneliness, infidelity, and grief—is a far cry from a provincial book".