Rebuilding her life on a plantation after the disappearance of her mother and the death of a sibling, Emily Parmenter forges a near-mystical relationship with her beloved spaniel and finds her world changing after the arrival of a rebellious debutante.

"Every August, four women would gather together to spend a week at the beach, renting a new house each year. The ritual began when they were in their twenties and their husbands were in medical school, and became a mainstay of every summer thereafter. Their only criteria was oceanfront and isolation, their only desire to strengthen their far-flung friendships. They called themselves the Girls of August. But when one of the Girls dies tragically, the...