Johanna Parry, a quiet caregiver, starts a new job working for an elderly Mr. McCauley and his teenage granddaughter Sabitha. A cruel trick by Sabitha lands Johanna in an awkward one-way relationship with Ken, Sabitha's estranged father but her newfound ambition and desire gives her courage to transform her awkward doom into real contentment.

"A tough-minded housekeeper jettisons the habits of a lifetime because of a teenager's practical joke. A college student visiting her brassy, unconventional aunt stumbles on an astonishing secret and its meaning in her own life. An incorrigible philanderer responds with unexpected grace to his wife's nursing-home romance. Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage is Munro at her best, tirelessly observant, serenely free of illusion, deeply...