Rachel has devoted herself fiercely to bringing up her three sons, and continues to do so now that they are grown up - and getting married. In return, the boys remain deeply attached to her and their father, Anthony, and to their childhood home on the wide, bird-haunted coast of Suffolk. But when her youngest, Luke, gets married, Rachel finds that her control begins to slip away. Other women are usurping her position, and seem to be becoming more important to her boys than she is. A crisis brings these subtle rifts to the surface, forcing the whole family to question old assumptions and find a new dynamic, if any of their relationships are going to survive.