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Joi Weston was once a popular television actress. Now she feels forgotten as offers of acting jobs disappear, and her husband immerses himself in a political career. Young writer Michael Brockmeir wonders if he will ever emerge from the shadow of his father, a world-famous author. When Joi and Michael meet, they feel a mutual inspiration and excitement.

Essie Mae Richardson means the world to the residents of the Braxton Park subdivision. So when she dies, all the hard work she did to rebuild fraying relationships and bolster broken families begins coming undone. But there are some who won't let her efforts go to waste, and they will fight to keep this angel's legacy alive.

A great sense of relief washes over widow Isabel Delancey when she inherits the Spanish House. Now she and her two children will have a home after being forced out of London. But the house is coveted by other interested parties, and now Isabel is caught up in their machinations.

Teenaged Lark is filled with boundless compassion and tenderness for her younger brother Termite, who cannot walk or talk. Nine years earlier and half a world away, Termite's father faced the haunting specter of the Korean War. Now, with their mother absent, the children live with their Aunt Nonie and struggle to make ends meet. Yet Lark and Termite persevere, strip away layers of their family's mysterious past, and courageously move toward an uncertain future.

Kat, a compulsive consumer at New Jersey's many malls, loves to shop until she drops--and it's taking a heavy toll on her marriage. Why else would her husband be using a secret bank account of his own? Finally, Kat is persuaded to join the Penny Pinchers Club. But there is such a thing as being too thrifty.

After she runs away from her abusive husband, Fran Benedetto lives in fear of discovery, yet also with increasing confidence, freedom, and hope, as she struggles to create a new life for herself and her son.

Despite their mother having run off with a cowboy from Denver, and having been brought up by their eccentric uncle Django, the McCabe girls actually consider themselves very normal and well-adjusted. Pip is stepmother to 10-year-old Tom, Fen has a young baby and Cat has returned to England to start a family. However, at their uncle's 70th birthday party, an unexpected guest arrives.

In 1955, a young boy brings a small infant to the door of an unsuspecting family. Forty years later, L.J. Tillman, a professional jazz musician, makes his way to New York City after a startling revelation wrecks his life in Kansas. Wandering the city streets, Tillman wants to get his thoughts in order before he can face his wife, Olivia, again. And now he must choose between wallowing in his own misery or reclaiming his life.

Joel Junior's daddy has gone off again. And since his momma and big sister got fed up and left, he's in charge of little brothers Carter and Tank. But Daddy's got Carter, and Joel and Tank need to get away. So with no one to guide him but the soul singers in his head, Joel sets off with Tank to learn the truth about love.

Twenty-six-year-old Aisha Branch has always gotten what she wants. Now she's getting an incredibly wealthy, white husband--unless self-made black man Miles changes enjoying a richly deserved sexual re-awakening. And her grandmother Geneva, who defied convention years ago by marrying a jazz musician, has plenty to say about all the romantic excitement.