Edie has been married to her husband, Richard, for forty years. When he leaves her, she falls deeper into her obsession with food. Through brief snippets of the past, the reader learns that Edie has always had an obsessive relationship with food because it has served as an emotional outlet when she experienced neglect, of which there was a lot in her WWII era immigrant childhood. In Richard's absence, however, Edie's children begin taking a more active role in their mother's health.
Robin and Benny are their two children. For her part Robin is angry. She hates her father for having left and hates him even more after she realizes just how compromised her mother's health has become. Ultimately her struggle is discerning whether he mom is responsible for herself and her own recovery or if everyone in the family must share the responsibility. Benny is a much more easy-going character who spends his time pining after his wife, Rachelle, and smoking weed. More than anything he wants his family to get along. Meanwhile Rachelle is as obsessed with her health as Edie is with her eating, so there is a clear dysfunction in Benny's intimate relationships, some unspoken grudge.
The family makes a desperate effort to come together and help Edie manage her addiction and become healthy. As with all forms of addiction, Edie's case is deeply emotional and rooted in childhood trauma. Each member of the family has their own silent concerns and secret hopes which they hope to express but cannot seem to communicate well. Even Benny's kids -- Emily and Josh -- make their grandma's health a top priority as they approach their symbolic entrance into adulthood. Just in the family's continued efforts to invest in and connect with one another, they make changes which may ultimately lead to resolution but which aren't clearly laid out in this book.
