Two families, separated by nearly 150 years, occupy the same property at 6th and Plum in Vineyard, New Jersey. Thatcher Greenwood raises the hackles of his supervisors by teaching Darwinism in the local high school, while Willa and Iano inherit this crumbling structure and hope to start over once again. Willa sees defeat in their efforts to create a deserved, comfortable life, as she watches it fill with a difficult father-in-law, Nick, an errant daughter, Nig, and absent son, Zeke, father to her infant grandson, Dusty. With alternating tales, Kingsolver plants characters realistically with full humor and hidden strengths in the face of lurking family pathos, all inside this literally falling down house!
