Deliberately relocating his family to an unremarkable rural town in New York in the hopes of starting over, Solomon Kugel finds his efforts challenged by his depressive mother, a local arsonist and the discovery of a believed-dead historical specimen hiding his attic.

Follows the course of a couple's relationship as reflected by the automobiles they drove, from the '74 Mustang that marked their first encounters to the Buick LeSabre they shared throughout their busy family years.

As he prepares for his wedding to Rachel Gilbert, the girl he has been with for twelve years, Adam Newman begins to question everything when Rachel's fiercely independent and beautiful young cousin moves home from New York.

Forging a powerful bond in the mid-1970s that lasts throughout subsequent decades, six individuals pursue respective challenges into their midlife years, including an aspiring actress who harbors jealousy toward friends who achieve successful creative careers.

Two family sabbaticals across the Atlantic and a brilliant orchestra conductor shape the perspectives of a young woman from 1950s Harvard Square, who develops new ways of thinking about music, love and art while struggling with feelings of being a perpetual outsider.