A DNA test reveals that Liane and her husband of nearly four decades are third cousins, landing her on the cover of an Australian tabloid under the headline "I'm Married to My Cousin!" But the tabloid misses the real story: what it actually takes to hold a marriage—and a family—together.

Liane expected an empty nest during middle age. Instead, it brings sleepless nights, a body she barely recognizes, and an autistic son who, even in adulthood, keeps her on permanent high alert. When his life-threatening seizure strips away any illusion that she can keep him safe, the fear she’s carried for years crystallizes into a single question: Who will love him enough when she is gone?

What holds her together is her marriage to a man who is steady, kind, and still manages to make her laugh. She also finds comfort in the matriarchal wisdom of killer whales, the Japanese art of tsundoku, and the philosophy of Swedish death cleaning. And when her older son's pandemic-era wedding reshapes her family, she realizes that happiness lies not in the life she planned, but in the life she has.