Cassandra Merton, newly forty and never married, is intrigued and intimidated by the rich forty-four-year-old bachelor who arrives at her Seaside, New Jersey, bed-and-breakfast. Management and finance specialist Dan Harmon is there to contemplate his life's significance as a result of witnessing the September 11 tragedy. Meanwhile, Cass dares to resist being the family doormat for the first time in her life, as she struggles to care for her teenage niece and nephew as well as her aging, deteriorating parents. Strengthened by each other, the two Baby Boomers dedicate themselves to untangling life's puzzles -- and a local mystery.