Garnet, a poet, resides in the fictional western New York village of Haven. Retired bookstore manager, she is a loving sister, bitter ex-wife, devoted aunt, failure as a mother, and doting owner of an imperious Great Pyrenees, Vera. Her increasingly confused ex, the philandering Bowie, lives down the street where he is having second thoughts about their split. Garnet will turn seventy in a few months and she wants no fuss made. Her family is determined to ignore her wishes and throw a big surprise party. Things do not go well.