Three daughters, Emily, Maisie, and Nell, return to their family's Northern Michigan cherry orchard in the spring of 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and learn about their mother's relationship with famous actor Peter Duke, with whom she shared the stage in Our Town at a theatre company named Tom Lake in the 1980s.

"[7] The novel was also well received at Publishers Weekly, which noted in its review, "As Patchett's slow-burn narrative gathers dramatic steam, she blends past and present with dexterity and aplomb, as the daughters come to learn more of the truth about Lara's Duke stories, causing them to reshape their understanding of their mother.

"[8] Benjamin Markovits of The Daily Telegraph gave the novel 4 out of 5 stars, comparing its qualities to Thornton Wilder's play Our Town, which features in Patchett's novel.

[9] Grace Linden of the Los Angeles Review of Books agreed, writing, "Our Town, a play about loss and the inability to appreciate life as it happens, is the perfect foil for Patchett's story.

"[10] Katy Waldman of The New Yorker wrote, "The ingredients have been assembled for a wistful meditation on mothers and daughters learning to handle the seasons of their lives [...] But the novel's alchemical transformation of pain into peace feels, at times, overstated [...] As Tom Lake goes on, the determined positivity begins to feel slightly menacing, or at least constrictive.