Don't let them know what you're thinking, Althea Deming tells herself. It's your best defense. Althea didn't want her good natured but thoughtless step-son Hal and manipulative daughter-in-law Grace to move in with her, relegating her to a corner of the house that was once just hers, but she doesn't have much choice. She's been powerless since her beloved husband Robert's death.

According to the will, everything that was hers now belongs to Hal - and to Grace.

Grace Deming didn't want to uproot her family to care for her difficult mother-in-law, but she's determined to make the best of it for the sake of her daughter Shyla's future. Their new home is enormous, the neighborhood prestigious. If the worst of it is that Althea dislikes her, she can cope.