As four women who have been friends all of their adult lives settle into early middle age, their friendship is increasingly challenged by the ever-growing disparity in their individual degrees of financial comfort. The three friends with money, Frannie, Jane and Christine, share a concern for Olivia who seems unable to make a living or sustain a relationship--at least by their standards. Their group examination of her lack of options magnifies each of their own doubts and concerns about the marriages and careers to which they have committed themselves. Olivia, meanwhile, drifts through each of her friends' lives, at times avoiding the issue of money altogether, and at other times accepting her friends' painful generosity. Ultimately, Olivia will find satisfaction and stability from an unexpected place, but her own somewhat happy ending is muted by the harsh reality of the suddenly disassembled lives of her best friends.