In Esme Cahill's mind, she has failed spectacularly: fired from her NYC publishing job, divorced, and with very little to her name, she drives to Asheville to fulfill her late grandmother's request that she return to the family home. There, she and some people from her past attempt to renovate her family's dilapidated lakeside retreat. In the attic, Elsa finds museum-worthy art quilts, sewn by her late grandmother. As she learns more about the history of the quilts, Esme learns that what she thought was failure may in fact have been a new beginning.