One year after the lingering death of family patriarch Henry Maxwell, his autocratic widow, Emily, invites her scattered family to spend a last vacation together at their Lake Chautauqua summer home, which she unilaterally has decided to sell after decades of ownership by the family. In August, three generations converge at the house, among them Henry's spinster sister, Arlene, a retired schoolteacher; Meg, the oldest daughter, whose "train wreck...