When a boat carrying two passengers capsizes in a logjam on Lake Coeur d'Alene, it is Martha, the narrator and central character of the interrelated stories of Limited Lifetime Warranty, who hears the strangers' cries for help from the bow of her family's own boat. In the aftermath of the rescue, she and her father, mother, and older sister retell the story again and again.

It is an evening that forever defines the constellation of their family. "So I became the heroine of hearing," Martha says. "I hear tragedy coming, and I point the way to rescue." Her mother became the bearer of light, and her father, who steered around the treacherous logs, became "the one who kept us afloat.".

When Martha's father dies suddenly and her sister, Becky, suffers brain damage from an anesthesia accident, the family founders, and it is Martha who must return the rest of the family to an even keel. As the events of Martha's life unfold, she learns from women who move through life with indomitable spirit. From the aging weaver Mrs. Althauser she learns to make something beautiful out of rags and scraps.

From ten-year-old Marci, whose father is dying of cancer, she learns that the best way to face a terrible thing is to stare it down. Finally, hearing and heeding the call of her heart, Martha chooses veterinary school over medical school. Forsaking fluffy poodles and foreign-born cats for farm animals, she follows an unconventional path as a large-animal veterinarian and discovers new shapes of happiness in her adult life as a wife, as a surrogate mother, and as a friend and neighbor in her community.

Filled with unforgettable characters and language as true as life, Limited Lifetime Warranty is a stirring portrait of one remarkable woman.