Welcome to the most tumultuous summer of the twentieth century. It's 1969, and for the Levin family, the times are a-changing. Every year, the children have looked forward to spending the summer at their grandmother's historic home in downtown Nantucket. But like so much else in America, nothing is the same this year: Blair, the eldest sister, is stranded in Boston, pregnant with twins and unable to travel. Middle sister Kirby, caught up in the thrilling vortex of civil rights protests and determined to be independent, takes a summer job on Martha's Vineyard. Beloved son Tiger is an infantry soldier, recently deployed to Vietnam. And thirteen-year-old Jessie suddenly feels like an only child, marooned in the house with her out-of-touch grandmother and her worried mother, each of them hiding a troubling secret. As the summer heats up, Ted Kennedy sinks a car off Chappaquiddick, man lands on the moon, and Jessie and her family experience their own dramatic upheavals along with the rest of the country.