Jane Kilgore reflects on her friendship with her childhood best friend years after they have grown apart. Many years before the 1970s, Jane's mother Margot uses a Ouija board to ask spirits if her Irish husband John Kilgore, who ran away with a girl half his age, will return to her. The board instructs her to move from Boston to South Carolina, so she does, along with young Jane. Margot opens up Margot's Antiques and befriends a woman named Dolly. Her daughter rides around on her bike and befriends Harriet Farr, a girl her opposite. While Jane has blonde hair and plumper features, Harriet is thin with dark hair. The two talk about everything and go everywhere together, and soon the Farr's are Jane's second family. Jane loves Mrs. Emily Farr, who is a writer, and thinks her white hair is beautiful. Emily is also the opposite of Margot. She has never dyed her hair and wears whatever clothes are most comfortable. She loves to garden. Jane never notices any problems with the perfect Farr family, who always welcome her in their home and feed her dinners. But, one day, the Farrs have a fight, and the illusion is broken. Margot, who thinks Emily is snobby, tells Jane that rumors have spread that Emily's husband Lawrence cheated on her. Jane begins to recognize an anxious look in Emily's eye whenever she talks to Lawrence. Margot begins to date a man named Larry and writes to Johnny that she wants a divorce. Johnny calls and tells Margot to come live with him in San Francisco, where he has a new job. Margot agrees, and she and Jane move across the country to be with him. Jane and Harriet agree to write each other every day, and, at first, they write a few times a week. Then the letters become sparser. In high school, they write general letters, and Jane thinks about how much she wants to be Harriet. Jane goes to Stanford and studies history. Harriet goes to Radcliffe and studies poetry. Jane marries well and has four children, one named Harriet, while Harriet never has kids. Every once in a while, Jane comes across one of Harriet's published poems. Jane hears that Emily finally left Lawrence from Dolly. After not writing for years, Jane finally does, and Harriet responds with a letter about how much her parents loved and miss Jane. Jane's husband reads the letter with her and tells her that Harriet sounds so much like Jane.