This book examines the search for the deep feminine by three women whose destinies intersect. Leila is a middle-aged Boston college professor who is thrown off balance by her husband's infidelity and the death of her best friend. She has time to ponder what this all means after beginning a new book about Becky, a poor fisherman's daughter accused of murdering her husband. May, the third woman in the story, is a 61-year-old housekeeper who works for Leila and several others. Unbeknownst to them, she is homeless. The deep longings of these three women have led them to seek validation and safety outside themselves — in men, in the seductions of the marketplace, and in the dream of a family that will provide for them in the future. Leila begins her own reclamation project by realizing that there is a rich lode of gold in her inner life. Many women will identify with this story.