Sarah is a fifty-year-old novelist and poet. Although she dreamed of being a famous writer, her career has failed to take off. She published one book but didn’t have time to write a follow-up because she was busy with her family life. She teaches a hybrid Bible study-creative writing class at the Jewish Community Center. Her students’ writing doesn’t interest her much, but because she is highly professional, they all comment on her warmth and enjoy her instruction. One day, she arrives home to hear that her husband, Ed’s, mother, Rose, has suffered another drug overdose. Rose became addicted to prescription drugs after dating a man who was perpetually happy, due to his own addiction. Ed flies over to California to see his mother. The next day, Sarah is distracted in class. Her eldest student, Ida’s, piece in the tradition of the Ruth and Naomi story breaks her out of her reverie. Sarah wants to say that Ida’s writing moved her, but she fears that that’ll be too much of a cliché. Things between Ed and Rose get worse, so Sarah flies to California. Ed and Sarah decide that Rose should move to Washington to be closer to them. The process of first shipping all of Rose’s items to Washington and then helping her find an apartment near Sarah and Ed is draining. Sarah finds that she cannot concentrate on her writing. She goes back to class. Her students ask her if she could bring in writing of her own. Back home, she finds a relevant piece, but she decides not to bring it in. She’s shocked by how much her perspective on life has changed since she wrote it during her college years. She remarks how, if an agent were to tell her that she would be famous at this point in her career, she would laugh in disbelief, just like Sarah from the Bible. Not long after, Rose finds a place that she’s okay with moving to, and Sarah feels some of her exhaustion melt off. Still, the feeling is short-lived, for moving Rose somewhere new brings about its own hoard of problems.