When Sarah McClure and her husband, Matt, move to Waterford, Pennsylvania, she hopes to make a fresh start in the small college town. Unable to find a job both practical and fulfilling, she takes a temporary job at Elm Creek Manor helping its reclusive owner, Sylvia Compson prepare her family estate for sale after the death of her estranged sister.

At loose ends after the devastating death of her mother, Una Richardson responds to an advertisement for a ladies' companion, a position that leads her into the wealthy, secluded world of Mrs. Elspeth McKenzie. But Elspeth's home isn't the comforting haven it seems. Kathryn, her cold and bitter daughter, resents Una's presence. More disturbing is evidence suggesting two girls lived here before her. What happened to the young women? Why won't the McKenzie's...

Forced by circumstances into each other's lives, Margaret Clayton and Bernice Stokes have become best friends. Old in years but young in spirit, the two meet in a home in eastern North Carolina at a time of life when the sameness of each day creeps into every page of the calendar. For Margaret and Bernice, however, this season marks the beginning of an unlikely and amazing friendship.

"Nothing could be more out of character, but after fifty-nine years of marriage, as her husband Bernard's health declines, and her friends' lives become focused on their grandchildren--which Jenny never had--Jenny decides she wants a little something for herself. So she secretly applies to be a contestant on the prime-time TV show Britain Bakes. Whisked into an unfamiliar world of cameras and timed challenges, Jenny delights in a new-found independence....

Fleeing her husband, Ruth buys a used car and heads north. When she faints from hunger at a North Carolina five-and-dime, Rose, a feisty octogenarian reporter, rescues her, and a friendship stronger than family ties blossoms.

During an idyllic English summer following World War II an unlikely friendship emerges between a teenage, nationalistic working class man and an older bohemian woman. While working a summer job for her, the teenager discovers an unpublished book of poetry holding a tragic secret message beyond the grave from her deceased lover, and both their lives are irrevocably changed.

A British army captain whose artistic pioneer grandmother lived an illusory life to cope with hardships begins transforming his own sense of reality in the aftermath of a mission gone wrong before confronting a mystery from his family's past.

When her late father's diaries are discovered after a tragic accident, Elizabeth, whose eyesight has failed, explores the diaries and the mysteries of her past with the help of Morgan, a delinquent teenager performing community service at Elizabeth's retirement home.