Winifred Parker climbed her way out of poverty by marrying into one of Philadelphia's oldest, wealthiest families. Now seventy-two years old, she has always felt that her son married beneath him and she has had no contact with her daughter-in-law, Zoe, since her son was killed in Korea. Zoe Parker lives alone on twenty-eight acres of rural Carolina land that she inherited from her parents. Determined to preserve her property when faced with the threat of foreclosure, Zoe, now in her fifties, has no choice but to turn to her wealthy, estranged mother-in-law.