Midlife has not been kind to Libby Berkenheimer. Her beloved husband has been killed in an automobile accident. Her children have left for college. She hasn't written a decent poem in months. Worst of all, even though she is middle-aged, she feels like a crying child. She wants her mama. Desperate and desolate, Libby invites her aging mother to live with her. Even though Mom is suffering memory loss and needs some care, Mom is still smiling, still the charmer she always was. In her mother's luggage, Libby finds evidence that her mother was once a consummate artist as well. "Needy Creek," her mother's masterpiece, is a watercolor so luminous it seems to light up the whole house.
Yet even with Mom in the house with her, Libby still feel like a foundling left crying on a cold doorstep. Performing "family archaeology," digging into her own memories as she writes in her journal, Libby realizes she has always felt like an orphan. But why?
When Mom gives "Needy Creek" away, Libby remembers part of the answer. Taking her mother on a journey back to her birthplace in search of the painting, Libby begins to connect with her past -- and her anger. But how can she connect with her mother, the Mom she loves and hates, before it is too late?
