too large and empty for newly widowed Ruth, she conjures up a brilliant plan to shrink her life: renting a cottage in a 55+ gated community near her closeted son. Six months in Sunset Village should be enough to know whether to sell her waterfront dream home and make the inland move near San Marcos permanent.

Her new neighbors range from the quirky outcast who reads tea leaves and paints heathen symbols on pots of herbs to the busybody HOA leader who micromanages the neighborhood and insults Ruth's son so much that he refuses to come over again.

Ruth is deprived of the peaceful existence she hoped for as she gets sucked into the neighborhood drama, which awakens the backbone she's forgotten she has, forcing her to decide who she is and what she wants for the next chapter of her life.