Published in 2004, Stephanie Kallos's debut novel, Broken for You, explores the relationship between an elderly woman who lives alone in a large Seattle house and a young woman whose heart needs mending.

Broken for You begins with seventy-five-year-old Margaret Hughes sitting in a doctor's office. Margaret has just been told that her frequent headaches are caused by a tumor. The doctor says that with surgery and chemotherapy, Margaret might have a couple more years to live. When Margaret asks about her prognosis if she decides not to have treatment, her doctor is stunned into silence. She then excuses herself, as if to go to the restroom, but she instead sneaks into the elevator and leaves the medical building.

As Margaret walks along the Seattle city streets in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, she comes to a cafe that specializes in desserts. When she notices that the cafe is devoid of customers, she walks in and orders four different sugary delicacies. She is served by a very thin young girl who has a nose ring, at which Margaret tries her best not to stare. The young girl is friendly, telling Margaret that she is studying film. When Margaret asks the young waitress what she would do if she had just been told she did not have long to live, the waitress, after reflecting on Margaret's question, answers she would do things that she had previously been afraid to do.

At this suggestion, Margaret decides to write an ad that she will place in the newspaper. She has decided that she will rent out a room in her enormous 15,000-square-foot Seattle home. Before placing the ad, however, Margaret reminds herself that she must first ask permission from her other "tenants"—Margaret's life-long collection of precious antiques. Over the years, especially since her divorce from her husband, Stephen, Margaret has come to consider her porcelain figurines and upholstered divans as friends and therefore tenants that share her home. Though she will consult these objects before advertising a room for rent, Margaret continues to write the ad as she finishes her desserts. While eating and sipping her tea, she also takes out a photograph of a young boy—her son, Daniel, who is no longer alive.

Later, Margaret is most impressed with the first person, Wanda, who responds to her ad. While showing Wanda around her house, Margaret is surprised and pleased that the young girl volunteers to fix a leaky pipe in one of Margaret's bathrooms. Wanda also takes the time to glue together a china cup that Margaret had dropped and cracked. While sharing tea, Wanda tells Margaret her history, which includes a story of a broken heart. After living with a young man for several years in New York, Wanda discovered that the man suddenly decided to set out on his own. Wanda has come to Seattle to look for him.

The story continues through Wanda's eyes as she prepares to move into Margaret's house. Wanda has little to pack. She has brought none of her accumulated possessions from New York except for some of her clothes. She decided to come to Seattle because of a postcard she had received. On the front of the card was a picture of Seattle. On the back was only her address. There was no note, no signature, and no return address. Wanda believed the card was from Peter, the man she had lived with in New York. She could not imagine anyone else sending her an anonymous note. Peter could have done it because he missed her but did not want her...

Chapter 5 focuses on Margaret's background, her childhood and marriage. Her early years were blessed, she felt, as happy as a fairytale. He father loved and spoiled her, bringing her precious gifts from his travels all over the world. One of his best gifts was that he made her laugh. Her father also made everyone around him happy, everyone except for Margaret's mother.

Margaret's mother was a beautiful woman, athletic and long-legged in her youth. However, something changed her. When Margaret studied old photographs of her mother, she saw a happy woman, always smiling, always surrounded by friends. The mother the Margaret knew, however, was always sad, always lost in a dark mood. She hardly spoke, and when she did, Margaret's mother often spoke of bad news.

When Margaret's father came home from trips, he often brought Margaret priceless figurines. He taught her how to judge their worth by the materials they were made from and by the places in which they were made. The attention that her father paid to Margaret seemed to bother Margaret's mother. Her mother admonished her father for spending so much time and energy in teaching Margaret about his trade. When Margaret tried to share her joy at each new present, her mother turned away, telling Margaret that she had no interest in her father's treasures. When Margaret was twelve, her mother died. Margaret was told that something had exploded inside her mother's head. When Margaret was twenty-four, her father passed away in his sleep. From then on, she decided she was cursed and destined to be a spinster. She was not uncomfortable with the idea of never marrying. She had no financial worries and lived in a beautiful house filled with memories of her father.

A dozen years later, however, Margaret met Stephen Hughes, an artist. They fell in love and married. At first, Stephen seemed content to live off of Margaret's inherited wealth. Then later, when Stephen's art was not selling, Margaret's money began to bother him. This was when he started to drink. When Margaret became pregnant, she hoped the child would save the marriage. This did not happen. Contrary to her hopes, Margaret's marriage to Stephen grew worse. She gave birth to a son, whom she named Daniel. Margaret and Stephen tried to hide their anger at one another from their son. They were not always successful.

In yet another attempt to refresh their relationship, Margaret one day suggested a family picnic in the country. They drove beyond the city limits and stopped near a field of tulips. Margaret argued with Stephen because he insisted on drinking. In an attempt to get away from his wife, Stephen said that he needed to drive to a small grocery store nearby to made a purchase. Daniel begged to go along. A short time later, Margaret heard the sirens in the distance. She listened as they drew closer. Then she started running but was eventually stopped by a policeman who told her that the scene of the accident was not something that she ought to see. Stephen was critically injured in that accident. Daniel was killed. Two years later, Margaret and Stephen's marriage was over.

After Wanda moves in, Margaret is a little disappointed. The young girl is hardly ever home. She leaves the house early and often comes home late. She works six days a week. When she is home, she is very quiet and is seldom seen. This makes Margaret wonder why she has rented out the room. She surely did not need the money. She had thought that having Wanda in the house would somehow change her life. In some ways, Wanda's presence has changed Margaret. However, it is not the transformation Margaret had anticipated. Though she had not felt this when she was living by herself, Margaret now feels lonely.

As Wanda is completing her first week at Margaret's house and has her first day off work, she offers to fix dinner for Margaret. When Margaret says she will help, Wanda orders Margaret to sit down and just watch. Wanda has bought a new cookbook about macrobiotic diets and is anxious to begin a new nutritional regimen. Wanda wants balance in her life. She hopes that by incorporating the macrobiotic principles into what she eats, she will begin to see results. As she prepares the meal, Wanda talks to Margaret about the Chinese concepts of yin and yang, which Margaret has trouble grasping.

While Wanda is cooking, the phone rings. On the other end is Marita, Margaret's husband's second wife. Marita insists on calling Margaret at least once a month to check in on her. Margaret dislikes this intrusion. Marita wants to know who answered the phone. When Margaret tells her, Marita is shocked. She does not understand why Margaret would need to rent out a room to a stranger. She thinks that Margaret has made a terrible mistake. Before Marita is finished asking more questions, Margaret hangs up the phone. She tells Wanda she has always wanted to do that. A few minutes later, the phone rings again. It is Stephen, Margaret's ex-husband. He, too, is concerned about Margaret having a stranger living in the house. Margaret is equally annoyed with Stephen.

The dinner is not a success. The dishes that Wanda prepares do not taste very appetizing. Both Margaret and Wanda agree that they need to cultivate better culinary skills.

Dreams are discussed in Chapter 7. Margaret is having one of her recurring nightmares about her son. In this dream, she is in a space ship with Daniel and Stephen. The two of them are together but on the opposite side from Margaret. A crack develops in the ship, which causes the section in which Daniel and Stephen are to drift away. That section then explodes, and Margaret wakes up crying.

Down the hall, Wanda dreams of making love to Peter. In the meantime, an unnamed man living in another part of Seattle cannot sleep. He is described as a man who likes to wear colorful Hawaiian shirts. He suffers from insomnia. On the table on the side of his bed is a photograph of a woman bowling. He concentrates on her eyes, which he thinks are as big as "saucers."

When Wanda announces that the production of the play at the theater where she is working is about to go into technical rehearsals and she will therefore be working longer hours, Margaret offers Wanda the use of her car. Up until then, Wanda had been riding a bike all over town.

At first, Wanda is shocked upon hearing this offer. Margaret is a little shocked too. Inside her head, Margaret had recently been hearing her mother's voice. When Margaret's mother heard her daughter's offer of the car, she told Margaret that she was crazy. This did not stop Margaret. She rarely drives and thus has no real use of the car except for an occasional trip into the city. She tells Wanda that it will take a day or two to make the necessary adjustments in her auto insurance, but after that is accomplished, Wanda should make use of the car. Wanda graciously accepts Margaret's generous offer.

After Wanda leaves that day to go to work, Margaret receives a phone call from Doctor Leising's office. The doctor's receptionist tells Margaret that she has been trying to reach her for a long time. There is a need for Margaret to have another appointment. Margaret has been purposefully not answering the phone: she does not want to see the doctor, because she does not want him to talk her into having an operation. However, since the receptionist has caught her, Margaret asks to speak directly to the doctor. When Leising gets on the phone, he insists that Margaret at least come into the office so they can talk face to face about her options. Margaret agrees.

After hanging up the phone, Margaret pulls out the chards of a teapot she had dropped the night before. She had initially put them in the trash, but now she decides to extract them. She sets the pieces on the floor in a circular pattern and then sits down in the middle. She does not understand why she had done this. While sitting there, she not only hears her mother's voice, she catches a vision of a woman sitting at the kitchen table. This has been happening more and more frequently. On this occasion, her mother commiserates with Margaret about her daughter's terminal illness. Her mother tells her that, on the bright side, at least they will soon be together. This particular morning, as she sits on the floor, a new voice enters Margaret's head. She thinks she catches a glimpse of a smaller figure sitting next to her mother. This smaller person repeats what Margaret's mother had said. He tells Margaret that he, too, will see her soon.

In Chapter 9, Wanda thinks back to when she was a child and was living with her aunt and uncle. There were seven boys in the family. The eighth to be born was a girl, who was very spoiled. The boys resented the attention their young sister received. Their father built a second bathroom, which was designated as being for the sole use of the young girl. She also had her own bedroom, while the seven boys shared a single room. As the resentment toward the little girl grew, Wanda tried to gain the friendship of the boys, as she was more prone to side with them than with the youngest child. Since the boys were forced to all sleep in the same room, Wanda devised a plan to make their sleeping arrangement more fun. One night, while her aunt and uncle were away with their young daughter, Wanda helped the boys make signs for their beds, giving them titles such as Sorcerer's Lair, Bull Pen, and Cowboy Donut Store. With their signs in place, going to bed became more fun, and the boys softened toward Wanda.

Wanda had left a note for Margaret the previous night, telling her that she was still thinking about the use of Margaret's car. She explained that she was in the process of limiting the objects in her life and did not know for sure if she should now include a car.

Margaret awakes early that morning, before Wanda is awake. She dresses plainly until she hears her mother's voice criticizing her for looking like an old woman. Margaret searches one of her accessory drawers and finds a colorful scarf to wear. This placates her mother.

When Wanda wanders into the kitchen, Margaret watches her make coffee in a French press. While Wanda sips the coffee, Margaret reminds the girl about her offer to drive her to the city. They would soon have to leave.

On the way into town, Wanda is impressed with Margaret's confidence in maneuvering in the rush-hour traffic. Margaret is more strong minded than Wanda had surmised. After dropping Wanda off, Margaret goes to her medical appointment. The doctor does offer her many different options—medications, biofeedback techniques, and dietary supplements. He does not insist that she have the operation. Though she had been reluctant about this encounter with her doctor, Margaret leaves his office somewhat relieved.

With her new surge of energy, Margaret decides to stroll through the city. She ends up standing in front of the Hotel Orleans, where she and Stephan had stayed on their honeymoon. Outside the building is a short man in uniform. He begins talking to her. His name is Gus MacPherson, and he is the Valet Supervisor. He has worked at the hotel for thirty years. After a brief conversation, Gus suggests that Margaret go inside the hotel and enjoy a continental breakfast, which she does. When she is done, she orders a dessert. She is walking away from the hotel when she hears someone call out her name. She turns to see Gus running up to her. He tells her that it was nice meeting her and suggests that maybe one day she should return.

At the theater, Wanda is struggling with rehearsals. No one enjoys going through all the technical requirements. The one bright spot in the day is Wanda's assistant, a young, very handsome man named Troy. Wanda is thankful for him. Not only is he nice to look at, he also acts very professionally and is quick to learn. Troy comes up to her during a break and hands her a pastry box. He said an elderly lady had asked him to give it to her. Inside is the cake that Margaret had ordered at the hotel. Margaret had also left a message that she would be outside the theater later that night to drive Wanda home. Troy had assumed that Margaret is Wanda's mother. This angers Wanda. She tells him she has no mother and he should not assume anything about her again.

Margaret receives a phone call from Gus. Wanda listens to the conversation and realizes that Margaret sounds like a school girl talking to a boyfriend. When Margaret gets off the phone, she is animated, much more lively than Wanda has ever seen her. From the overheard conversation, Wanda figures out that Margaret has a date. Tomorrow night, Margaret will go to dinner with Gus and then use the two tickets that Wanda has given her to the opening night performance of the play.

After work that night, Troy insists on walking Wanda to where she has parked the car. Though she tells him that she is a grown women who is used to living in New York, Troy will not hear of her walking alone. They hike the steep incline into the Queen Anne neighborhood where Wanda has parked. Wanda walks as fast as she can, but despite Troy being a smoker, he is able to keep pace with her. While they walk, Troy tells her that he had come to Seattle from Montana, following a woman he had fallen in love with. She was an actor. They have since broken up. Wanda wants to know why Troy had stayed in Seattle. He responds that he figured he was meant to be there.

The next evening, after their shared dinner, Gus and Margaret go to the play. Afterward, they wait in the lobby for Wanda, who has not yet appeared. Margaret is concerned about Wanda. So is Troy, who introduces himself to Margaret as the one who took the pastry box to Wanda. When Troy mentions his concern for Wanda, Margaret decides to go look for her. She stops at the restroom, and while seated in one of the stalls, she hears someone crying. She finds out it is Wanda. After they talk, Wands confesses that she is suffering from opening-night jitters. She had made a few mistakes during the performance and was upset about her errors. Margaret comforts her. After Wanda wipes her tears away, Margaret takes off her pearl earrings and offers them to Wanda. The earnings, Margaret says, will look much better on Wanda. When Wanda is ready to exit the bathroom, Margaret notices for the first time how elegantly Wanda is dressed. She has on a long black gown, with long slits up each side, showing off a pair of athletic legs.

The two women reach the lobby and are met by Troy and Gus. Wanda is offered a plate of the catered food, and Margaret and Gus make their excuses and leave. When they arrive at Margaret's house, Gus tells Margaret that he is not the type of man who wastes time. He likes her, he says, and would like to see more of her. He has told Margaret that he teaches a yoga class for seniors. To deflect his attention, Margaret tells Gus that she would like to take his class. He says that yoga will make her feel younger. They kiss before Gus leaves.

Chapter 13 opens in Margaret's house. Wanda is upstairs in her room. It is around noon, but Wanda has not come out of her bedroom all morning. When Margaret knocks on Wanda's bedroom door and enters, she finds Wanda in bed and surrounded by used, crumpled tissues. Wanda's eyes look bloodshot.

Margaret asks if Wanda is in a mood to help her do something. Wanda wearily rises and follows Margaret downstairs. While they are descending, Margaret encourages Wanda to bring home guests, male or female. Margaret then tells the girl that Margaret herself might have a guest soon. Mr. MacPherson has inferred that he would like to deepen their relationship. At this announcement, Margaret, uncharacteristically, twirls around like a happy child.

When they are on the ground floor, Margaret stops in front of a huge china closet and says that she wants to get rid of all the dishes stored inside it. Wanda assumes that the older woman wants to donate the china to Goodwill. However, Margaret corrects this impression, telling Wanda that she does not want to give it away. She wants to smash it. At this announcement, Margaret loads a few dishes in her arms and carries them outside to the back patio where she promptly drops them. Wanda hears the sound of cracking china and rushes outside.

Margaret then motions for Wanda to follow her back inside. The two of them carry another portion of the dishes to the backyard and proceed to drop them on the stone floor. Soon they are loading boxes full and carting them to the patio, where they throw the plates against the rock wall.

When they are done, they drink champagne to celebrate. The destruction of the dishes was liberating for both of them. The china had been a wedding present from some unremembered guest. Margaret had never liked the pattern. She found it too ornate. She had not used the dishes in many years and would not miss them.

As they sip their champagne, Wanda comments on the pleasant rock wall that surrounds the backyard. Margaret tells Wanda that her husband built the wall while she was pregnant. Margaret would sometimes find Stephan out there in the middle of the night, working on his project. He built the wall to keep their unborn child safe.

Wanda wanders over to the wall and sits down in the middle of the china fragments and begins playing with the pieces. She sorts through some of the pieces and places them in a pattern as if she were creating a mosaic. The champagne eventually puts Wanda to sleep. When Margaret walks over to the sleeping figure to cover her with a blanket, she studies the loosely arranged mosaic. To Margaret it looks like a cow with wings, a figure one might find in a children's book of fairy tales.

Margaret tells Wanda that she is thinking of advertising for another boarder. She asks Wanda's permission to do so. Wanda will, after all, have to share her bathroom with the new female renter. Wanda says she has no problems with having someone else renting a room in the house. Margaret does not tell Wanda that this new person will be a live-in nurse, because Margaret does not want Wanda to know that she has a brain tumor.

At the theater, Wanda continues to tell herself that she does not want to become involved with her assistant, Troy. She is in love with Peter, she tries to convince herself. That was the reason she had come to Seattle. She needs to focus on finding Peter and not on her obvious physical attraction to Troy. However, Wanda does tell Troy that Margaret has suggested that he come to dinner one night. Wanda says this as fact, though the suggestion is really Wanda's. When Troy walks her to her car that night, Wanda feels the sexual tension between them. To avoid physical contact, she quickly slips into the car and drives away before Troy tries to kiss her.

Wanda does not drive far. As soon as she is out of sight of Troy, she pulls the car over and changes into her black gown, and then dons a wig and a pair of eyeglasses she had taken from the costume closet at the theater. As she dresses, she reminds herself that she knows Peter and must search for him according to her plans. She then consults a map of Seattle on which she has circled all the stores that sell vintage jazz LPs. She feels destined to find someone at one of these shops who either knows or has seen Peter. She drives to the nearest store and convinces the clerk that she is an undercover policewoman, searching for a criminal. She shows the clerk a picture of Peter. The clerk has not seen him. Wanda leaves her phone number and asks that the clerk call her if he should see this man.

Back home, after placing her ad, Margaret begins to receive inquiries. She has selected a few of the most compatible responses and has begun interviewing the applicants. One of her tests to see if the person will fit in is to show them the patio where Margaret and Wanda had broken the plates. Margaret will explain why they had done this and why the shards still remain on the ground. If the applicant accepts and understands this, Margaret is sure that she will make a favorable candidate.

Susan Meriweather, a British nanny, passes the test. Her response to the broken china in the backyard was to define it as a "glorious mess." Later, while alone with Wanda, Susan admits that she had expected the family she was then working for to have taken her with them in their move to New York. She had taken care of their children since their births. The family never suggested this, which broke Susan's heart. Though she does not tell Wanda that Margaret has hired her as a live-in nurse, she does confide that she has given up her profession as a nanny and will now be taking care of terminally-ill patients.

Margaret is extending her invitation for roommates to Kosher Katz, as he is called, the caterer Margaret met at the opening night at the theater. The man had prepared the meal that was served to the actors after the play. He had impressed Margaret, so she is going to ask him to move in and prepare their meals. Gus, Margaret's new boyfriend, has also moved into Margaret's house.

Meanwhile, the play has run its course and is ending. Closing night at the theater made Wanda feel depressed. She did not like having to say good-bye to all the actors and other theater workers. Since the production was finished, Wanda was also out of a job.

After work, Troy walked her to her car again. Since it might be the last time she would see him, Wanda decided to be bold. When they got to the car, she asked him to wait and not look inside her car as she changed. She would be back in just a few minutes. When Wanda emerged, she was in her so-called undercover police outfit. Wanda then told Troy her story. She was in Seattle because of a man whom she was desperate to find. She was in love with this man. She was using the disguise to try to reunite with him. Then she asked Troy if he thought she was crazy?

Troy kissed her before answering her question. Yes, he thought she was crazy, he said, but he would like to go along with her in her search. They both get into the car. When they arrive at the first record store, Wanda asks Troy to stay in the car. Troy refuses, so Wanda tells him he can watch but not say anything.

Inside the store, Wanda begins her act with the store clerk. Troy cannot keep quiet. He goes to the front of the store and joins Wanda, pretending that he, too, is a policeman. This makes Wanda furious. When she leaves the store, Troy follows her and reminds her that it is a crime to impersonate a police officer. She could be arrested.

Wanda is still angry. She feels that Troy was mocking her compulsion to find Peter. She tells Troy that there is nothing funny about her feelings. When Troy attempts to apologize, Wanda is suddenly distracted and does not hear him. She is standing by side of her car when she sees a man walking on the other side of the street. She can only see the back of him. He has a graying ponytail, just like Peter does. Wanda rushes to cross the street and follow the man. She does not see the SUV coming toward her. She does, however, feel the pain when she is hit and sent flying into the air. When she lands hard on the pavement, the pain intensifies. She senses that she is broken.

Back at the house, Margaret is having a dream when Gus wakens her. There has been a phone call, he tells her. A police officer has told him that there was an accident. They need to go to the hospital. Something dreadful has happened to Wanda.

In Chapter 18, the man with the gray ponytail is introduced. He is described as being lonely, someone without a "tribe." For this, people avoid him as if he had a contagious disease. This man, like Wanda, is looking for someone. One of the first things he did upon arriving in Seattle was to search the telephone directory, looking for someone whose last name begins with the letter "L." Then he looked in the Yellow Pages under the letter "B." He bought a city map and devised a plan. A few months before Wanda arrived in Seattle, this man bought a post card and mailed it to Wanda's family address in Chicago. He did not sign his name. He did not supply a return address. Now the man regrets having done this. He has come to Seattle to look for his wife.

A flashback is provided in the next chapter, giving information about Michael O'Casey. The time frame is the decade between 1959 and 1969. Michael is a college student in this flashback, living in Chicago. He falls in love with a woman who is an artist and a little older than he is. Her name is Gina Lorenzini. (Lorenzini is the same name that Wanda uses when she is pretending to be an undercover policewoman.) Michael and Gina met at a bowling alley. Gina is a better bowler than Michael is.

Gina paints self-portraits, and she is very good at it. She is somewhat moody, but Michael believes he can deal with that. When they talk about marriage, Gina tells him that she does not want to have any children. This surprises Michael, though he tells her that he will go along with her wishes. Secretly, he hopes that Gina will change her mind. Before they are wed, Michael takes Gina to meet his sister, Maureen (Wanda's aunt, the woman who raised her). Maureen senses that Gina is a bit eccentric, but she can tell that Michael loves her.

Michael and Gina are not married very long when she becomes pregnant. She attempts to adjust to becoming a mother, but she has a difficult time doing so. She gives up drinking and painting. Neither of these actions help. After she gives birth, she begins to fall apart psychologically. The baby, whom they name Wanda, is often bruised when Michael comes home. One day, Wanda is taken to the doctor because she has a broken arm. After that, Michael takes his daughter to work with him. He is afraid to leave her alone with Gina.

Gina only gets worse, and one day when he comes home, Michael finds a note from Gina. She apologizes to him for leaving. She has no other choice. She does not want him to come looking for her. Michael takes Wanda to Maureen's house and asks his sister to watch the child for a few days. He plans to come back, but he never does.

Michael, Wanda's father, had changed his name. He now called himself M.J. Striker. Once he had arrived in Seattle, he found a job at a bowling alley, the Aloha Lanes, in the northern section of the city. It was a rather rundown establishment, having been built in the 1960s and the sport having lost its popularity since then. However, M.J. felt very much at home there. He had worked in bowling alleys most of his life.

Rudy, the manager of the place, liked M.J. as he had grown tired of hiring young boys who wanted to play the old arcade games at the back of the lanes while they were supposed to be working. Rudy's doctor had diagnosed his stomach pains as the beginning of an ulcer, so he needed someone he could rely on. The only mark against M.J. was that he moved around so much, drifting from one city to another. However, when M.J. committed himself to at least a six-month stay, Rudy hired him, asking him to start the next day.

Most of the regular customers at the bowling alley were elderly women. One woman in particular, Irma Kosminsky, took a liking to M.J. and brought him an Aloha shirt with a bright floral design after she and her husband returned from their annual trip to Hawaii. Irma told M.J. that it was time for him to come back to life. M.J. always looked too grim, Irma told him, as if he went to a funeral every day. M.J. always dressed in black and seldom smiled. After Irma gave M.J. the Aloha shirt, she pressed him to wear it every day she saw him. M.J. did not give in. She teased him, suggesting that he was ungrateful for the gift. This did not, however, convince M.J. that he should put the bright shirt on, so one day Irma insisted that M.J. come to dinner at her house.

When M.J. arrived at her door, Irma greeted him by asking who had died. M.J. was wearing his traditional black clothes. Irma then introduced him to her husband, Sam, and the three of them sat down to a meal of T.V. dinners, pre-cooked frozen food. After dinner, M.J. and Irma played Scrabble while Sam slept in his chair in front of the television set. Irma told M.J. that Sam was not well. Before leaving, M.J. learned that Irma had been a prisoner in a Nazi concentration camp. She had lost her first husband and her daughter there. Sam had been an American soldier in the troop that had liberated the camp. Irma told M.J. that Sam had saved her life.

A few weeks after that dinner, Sam died. M.J. went to the funeral, dressed in the Aloha shirt, which made Irma burst out laughing. From then on, he wore the flowery shirt every day, hoping it would make Irma continue to laugh. The effect, however, quickly wore off. Not only did Irma stop laughing, she also stopped coming to the bowling alley.

Eventually M.J. went over to Irma's apartment and found the woman in her bathrobe in the middle of the day. Her hair was uncombed and her gray roots were showing. Irma refused to eat, smile, or leave her apartment. In an attempt to cheer her up, M.J. read the instructions on a package of hair dye he found in her bathroom and insisted that Irma allow him to spruce up her hair. He then established a routine of coming to dinner several nights each week to cheer her up. With time and his attention, Irma finally returned to the bowling alley and to the support of her friends.

M.J. did not leave Seattle at the end of six months. Through his growing attachment to the people at the bowling alley, he began to feel as if he had finally found a family.

It is Easter Sunday, 1997, the same Easter day on which Wanda had been hit by a car outside the store that sold vintage records. M.J. had gone for a walk late that night. He was feeling restless and depressed. Easter did that to him. The day made him miss family. He had thought of calling his sister, Maureen, but decided against that. Then he remembered Irma had once told him that the best way to beat the blues was to move. He decided to put on his coat and go walking.

As he neared the record store, he saw a young woman in a long black dress standing outside the store. She was arguing with a young man, whom M.J. concluded was her boyfriend. Her tone of voice reminded M.J. of his wife. The emotion being expressed brought back memories of their relationship. He sensed the young man's feelings for this woman and hoped that the man had the strength to keep his love strong and to continue caring for the woman. These thoughts stirred too many feelings in M.J., so he had to turn away from the young couple. It was time to head back to his apartment.

Then he heard the screeching brakes. M.J. closed his eyes and waited for the sounds that he knew would come next—the crunching of metal, the crashing of glass. These sounds never materialized. In their place, he heard people screaming. He turned around and saw the young woman lying on the street. Her clothes were torn to shreds. Her body formed unnatural angles. She must be dead, M.J. thought.

Again M.J. was about to turn and leave, but he saw another woman, the driver of the SUV that had hit the girl, get out of her car. She could barely walk. M.J. knew the woman was about to go into shock, so he went to her, wrapped her in his coat and led her to the curb, encouraging her to sit down. He needed to keep talking to her so that she would not pass out. When he saw the young boys get out of the SUV, all of them dressed in soccer uniforms, he knew he must distract them. The woman lying in the street had begun shaking her broken limbs. She was not dead. The boys were too young to witness this, so M.J. ordered one of them to call the police.

M.J. also noticed the injured woman's boyfriend. He was holding one of the woman's shoes in his hand and sobbing. M.J. should comfort him like a father, he thought. However, just then a policeman walked over to the young man. The officer was better experienced in such cases, M.J. thought, so he turned his back on the scene and started walking home.

Wanda's body is terribly broken, and she is in a coma for a long time as her bones heal. While sleeping, she is lost in frustrating nightmares. In her dreams, she often plays the role of a misfit actor. She is cast in roles she cannot master. She could not convince those around her that she is not an actor. Besides not remembering her lines, everything around her is misguided. She wonders where the stage manager is. Costumes do not fit. Lighting is wrong. When she speaks, she knows the audience cannot hear her. Finally, she realizes that she is the stage manager and is then forced to face her incompetence.

These nightmares often make her cry. Wanda's doctors and nurses take these sounds as positive signs. At least her brain is functioning, they conclude. Those who come to visit her and to keep vigil while she sleeps have mixed reactions to Wanda's tears and moaning. Despite being told that Wanda's emotional reactions are positive, Margaret and Troy, Wanda's most faithful friends, are tormented by Wanda's suffering.

Eventually Wanda regains consciousness. Her jaw, which has been wired shut, is finally released. Though she is now able to speak, Wanda chooses not to. She remains mute by choice. Other aspects of her recovery take place. She is able to move with the help of a wheelchair and sometimes with a walker. Finally, she is released from the hospital.

At Margaret's home, a first-floor room was redecorated for Wanda. Troy had even remodeled the nearby bathroom. The tub was replaced with a shower stall. The sink's height was lowered. Margaret had stocked the medicine cabinet with all of the prescription drugs that Wanda needed.

On the day of her arrival, Bruce, the caterer who had since moved into Margaret's home, fixes a feast. Wanda, though, is not hungry. She stays in her new room that day, realizing that for the first time in a long time she is finally alone. Margaret had welcomed Wanda home by taking a ceramic figurine and dropping it, smashing it to pieces, which she then invited Wanda to fix when she felt up to the task. Wanda had worked her way out of her wheelchair and was sitting on the floor, contemplating the pieces.

At dinner time, Troy comes to visit. He brings flowers for Wanda. The others in the house—Susan the nurse, Margaret and her friend Gus, and Bruce—sit down for the meal while Troy goes into Wanda's room. When Troy walks in, he finds Wanda asleep. He sits in a nearby chair and waits. When Wanda wakes up, she sees Troy sleeping in the chair, an image she had often witnessed at the hospital. When she sits up, Troy stirs. Wanda then motions Troy to her bed. Though her body fells too angular and rigid, Wanda makes love with Troy. It is the first time they have been so intimate. Then they both fall asleep.

When Wanda wakes up, Troy is gone. She looks down at the floor at the shattered pieces of the figurine. On the table next to her bed, Wanda finds the glue that Margaret had left, so she scoots out of bed and down to the floor. She begins mending the pieces.

Wanda wants to be neither a charity case nor a burden. After Wanda says that she has no right to stay as one of Margaret's tenants, Margaret makes a confession. Margaret tells Wanda that she needs her and then she explains why.

After her father died, Margaret took over his business. She was twenty-four years old. It was 1946. World War II was over. It took Margaret a while to realize how opportunistic her father had been. Many of the antiques that he had traveled to Europe to buy, she discovered later, had been confiscated by the Nazis from Jewish families. This realization came to light in the form of a formal complaint, issued by a Jewish man who had rushed into the antique shop one day, shouting at her. The profits she was making, the man had exclaimed, had blood on them.

After this, Margaret closed the shop. All the shop's inventory was stored at the family home. Each room had its own selected collection. However, Margaret said there is so much more stored in large crates. Something had to be done with them. Margaret had tried to return the ceramics, but unlike other works of art stolen from Jewish people during the war, the dishes and figurines were almost impossible to trace. The only thing left to do is to smash them. That is where Wanda can be help. Margaret asks Wanda if she would help get rid of every piece of the collection.

Wanda ponders Margaret's request for two weeks. At the end of this time, she emerges from her room for the first time. She shows up at the breakfast table to everyone's surprise. She is finally hungry. She has been exercising and is moving around with the use of the walker. Wanda tells Margaret that she will take on the project, but Margaret will have to help her by telling her stories about each piece. Wanda will make mosaics influenced by the stories Margaret tells her. The work will then be presented as a memorial to the lives lost during the Holocaust.

Margaret asks Troy to move into the house since he will be working on renovations. One of his main projects is a studio in which Wanda will be working. He also will work on a design for an escalator so Wanda can go upstairs.

One night when she cannot sleep, Wanda pulls out the journal in which she had been keeping her written affirmations, the main one being that she would eventually find Peter. Logs are burning in the fireplace in her bedroom. Wanda throws the journal into the flames. She feels a sudden release as she watches the journal burn.

A few weeks later, as Wanda breaks many boxes of ceramics and sorts out the pieces by shapes and colors, she begins piecing together pictures. She is not pleased with the finished project, but Troy tells her not to be so judgmental until the work is finished. He shows her how to mix the grout that would hold the pieces together. Then he helps her spread it and watch the work come to life. When they are done, Wanda feels proud of her accomplishment.

A year has passed, and Margaret has arranged for an exhibition of Wanda's mosaic pieces. As she is getting dressed for the affair, Wanda is modeling some fancy clothes that she has bought for the occasion. Susan and Bruce are helping Wanda decide what to wear. When Troy comes home, he becomes wordless when he sees Wanda dressed up. Wanda retreats to her room, trying to control the beating of her heart, though she will not admit that she loves Troy.

Meanwhile, across town, M.J. is helping Irma create an album of photographs of her life with Sam. Irma has heard that creating such an album is a way of healing. As she and M.J. go through the photographs, Irma asks M.J. questions about his past. She asks if he has photographs. M.J. says he has only one. Irma wants to know who is in the picture. M.J. tells her that one of the people is his wife: he has been looking for her for over thirty years. When Irma asks who the other person in the photo is, M.J. is sorry that he has told her anything. However, he relents, telling Irma that he has a daughter. Irma wants to know if his wife having left him is what makes him so withdrawn. M.J. confirms that is part of it. The major cause of his unhappiness, though, is guilt for having abandoned his daughter. Irma pushes M.J. to open up more to her. She wants to know if he had left his daughter on the sidewalk. M.J. says he gave his daughter to his sister, a warm-hearted woman. Irma then makes M.J. see that he is not as bad as he thinks. In his way, he provided for his daughter and she has probably turned out to be a good person.

Later, at the art exhibition, a good-sized crowd has shown up. A newspaper reporter wants to make an appointment with Wanda for a later time. She would like to do a feature on Wanda and her work. The reporter believes that once the word gets out about Wanda's mosaics, her work will, as the reporter says, "turn the art world on its head."

Wanda is exhausted by the time the exhibit is over. Troy offers to take her home. When Wanda makes sexual advances after they get home, Troy stops her. He tells her that he is not going to do that any longer. When Wanda asks him to explain, Troy tells her that he is not going to play the role of her therapist, using sex with him as a way to ease her pain. He wants their relationship to be more than that. At first Wanda is upset. Then she realizes that Troy might love her.

Every three months, Margaret goes to the doctor’s office for a re-examination of her condition. For the past two years, with Gus’s care and yoga (at least this is what Margaret believes), the tumor in her brain has not grown. The doctor is amazed. So is Margaret. She feels very lucky. The doctor tells her to continue doing whatever she is doing.

Meanwhile, Wanda (who is known as Tink Schultz in the art world) is gaining recognition. The local papers have reviewed her work, and word is spreading. Gallery owners offer to give her shows. Travel magazines publish articles. National magazines promote her work. The telephone is constantly ringing.

Wanda has been working harder than she ever has and is showing signs of fatigue. At one of their communal meals, Troy has a suggestion. To help Wanda with her work, he says they should start a school. This would provide assistants for Wanda. The students could work as they learned. They could call the school the Crazy Plate Academy.

The school is established and quickly becomes very popular. In October, a strange woman appears in the backyard. Bruce sees her from the kitchen window and notes her strange appearance. In a panic, Bruce calls the police to tell them the house has an intruder. As it turns out, the woman is one of Seattle’s greatest patrons of the arts. She is called Babs C and is known to almost every artist in the city. She has come to see Wanda’s work and to find out what she can do to help her. In the end, Babs commissions a very large work. Babs has also come to thank Margaret for her contribution. Margaret, who has never appeared in public at any of Wanda’s exhibitions, is embarrassed to meet Babs. However, Babs makes Margaret understand that she is a generous woman, not some Nazi sympathizer as Margaret had made herself feel for having maintained ownership of all her father’s ceramic collections. Babs says, to the contrary, that Margaret has been protecting the collection for the sake of Jewish history.

When Wanda finishes the commissioned work, Babs insists that Margaret attend the exhibition. This causes tension that might be responsible for Margaret’s symptoms worsening. She suffers from intense headaches, and her visions of her mother and dead son are becoming more vivid and more frequent. The two fantasies seem to be with her all day long.

Although Margaret makes it to the showing of Wanda’s newest work, she faints after Babs introduces and praises her. Margaret is rushed to the hospital, where it is determined that the tumor in her head has dramatically increased in size. Until this moment, Margaret’s closest friends have been told of her condition except for Wanda. When Troy is forced to tell her, Wanda becomes angry with Margaret. Margaret insists that she withheld the information for Wanda’s sake. Then she has to confess that her motives were also selfish. Margaret had been afraid if she had told Wanda that she had only a short time to live, Wanda might never have stayed with her.

M.J. is in Hawaii with Irma. Irma had promised to take him to Kauai. They are working with the Sierra Club, replanting a section of a park trail with flowering plumeria trees. Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Margaret, Gus, and Susan are in Paris. Ever since she was a child, Margaret has wanted to see Paris. Her father went there several times. Now Gus is taking her. They will stay in France for two months. Margaret’s doctor was against the trip. He did not think Margaret was strong enough. Gus was completely supportive, wanting to give Margaret anything she wanted. Susan thought Margaret was being irresponsible, but Wanda had told Susan that she believed Susan’s job was to give Margaret the dignity of helping her accomplish her last wishes.

In Hawaii, Irma notices how M.J. is becoming distracted by a nice looking, middle-aged woman who is in their group but appears to be traveling alone. Irma purposefully introduces herself to the woman, learns that she is a divorced college professor, and then encourages M.J. to talk to her. Her name is Joyce Gallagher and she lives in Idaho. M.J. meets with Joyce several times after that. They exchange addresses before they leave the islands.

In Paris one morning, Margaret decides to go for a walk by herself. Gus and Susan are still sleeping. When she starts out, Margaret feels unusually strong. However, as she roams through Paris, she begins to weaken. This prompts a more serious intention to come over Margaret. She suddenly has the urge to investigate a special museum, one that keeps records of victims of the Nazi occupation of Paris. Gus eventually joins Margaret. They spend most of the next week combing through lists of names, looking for possible survivors of the Holocaust. The work is tedious and saps Margaret of her remaining strength.

While Margaret and Gus work their way through the material, a French assistant named Sylvie helps them understand what happened during the Nazi occupation. Jews were rounded up, Sylvie tells them. While they stood in the streets, Nazi officials ransacked their homes, taking nearly everything they found inside. The Nazis accounted for every piece of clothing, furniture, jewelry, and other item they took. The Jewish people were then sent to camps, first in France; later they were transferred to more centrally located places, such as Auschwitz in Poland.

After weeks of work, Margaret and Gus have traced a few names to listings associated with ceramics that had been confiscated. One of the family names is Sendler. By this time, Margaret’s health has deteriorated. Gus and Susan are forced to take Margaret back home. However, Sylvie continues the investigation in their absence.

At her first doctor’s visit in Seattle, Margaret is told that the tumor in her brain has grown. To lessen her suffering, the doctor again suggests radiation therapy. Still Margaret refuses. However, when a phone call comes from Sylvie in Paris informing Margaret that she has traced the Sendler woman as a survivor who might still be alive and living in the United States, Margaret is infused with a new passion to live. She wants to find at least one person to whom she might return what had been stolen from her. Margaret had recognized the name of the tea set that had been taken from this Sendler woman. She has seen the set somewhere in her father’s collection. Margaret wants to find the Sendler woman before she dies.

M.J. is back in Seattle and working at the bowling alley. He is talking to a young, teenage girl who has come in. He has seen the girl before and is less than pleased with her dress and attitude. He feels that she must go out of her way to make herself unpleasant to look at or to be associated with. Her clothes are torn, her hair is unkempt, and her language is vile. Irma has noticed the girl too. She feels sorry for the child, sensing that she probably does not receive much attention or love at home. Irma encourages M.J. to take an interest in the child and at least teach her to bowl better. Then Irma tells M.J. a little about her life in Paris. After the war, Sam had taken Irma back to her old neighborhood. There she had met a woman who, for some unexplained reason, had confiscated one small teacup from Irma’s family’s home. The cup was part of the tea set the Nazis had stolen. She gave the cup to Irma, and Irma had kept it.

The next day, the teenage girl comes to the bowling alley again. Her name is Roxie. Irma has prompted M.J. to do a good deed, so he coaches the girl in her bowling game. Then for the first time in thirty years, M.J. dons a pair of bowling shoes, finds a ball that fits his hand, and plays the game he has loved all his life. The day after this, M.J. comes to work to the applause of several of his most regular customers. On his desk are five new Aloha shirts. When Irma does not show up for her usual bowling game, though, M.J. becomes concerned and goes to her apartment. He finds that Irma has died. In reaction, he decides to leave Seattle.

Margaret, in the meantime, is undergoing radiation therapy, which is making her feel very sick. She spends a lot of time in bed. In the rest of the house, people are busy sorting through Margaret’s father’s collections, working on art pieces, answering phones, or otherwise helping Wanda. One day even Stephan, Margaret’s ex-husband, shows up at the house with Marita, his wife. Marita is in tears because of Margaret’s declining health. Stephan is impressed with how Margaret has transformed her life by creating the art school and supporting so many people.

One day, Gus tells Margaret that the Sendler woman has been traced to Seattle. She had remarried and her name is Irma Kosminsky. Several days later, Irma’s lawyer tells M.J. that someone is looking for Irma. Because M.J.’s is the only name listed on Irma’s will, the lawyer is giving the information to him. M.J. is to go see these people. They have something to give him. M.J. was all but ready to leave Seattle, but he decided to pay these people a visit.

M.J. makes it to Margaret’s house. When he arrives, students greet him; they are busy unpacking ceramic figurines. M.J. is told stories about the pieces. Some of these stories are true and some are made up on the spot—a custom that has been established at the school. Every piece they uncover must have a story. M.J. is confused by the activity. He had expected merely to show up and take care of some legal matter for Irma. He did not want to hear all the sad stories. Then a student hands M.J. a plate and tells him he has to break it. It is has become a tradition required of all new students and visitors.

When Bruce comes into the room where M.J. is standing, he thinks M.J. is a volunteer. The house is filled with them. When M.J. says he has come to see Mrs. Hughes, Bruce invites M.J. to stay for dinner. It is Thanksgiving, and Bruce has made a feast to feed the masses. Then Susan appears and takes M.J. up the stairs. Margaret is waiting for him.

Margaret is in bed, but she is sitting up. When M.J. shakes her hand, he notices how frail she is. M.J. sits down and Susan hands him an envelope of papers. Then Susan briefs M.J. on Margaret’s story: how she inherited her father’s collection, how she discovered that most of the items were stolen from Jewish people, and how she traced one of the stolen china sets to Irma. Susan gives him a box that contains the remaining pieces of Irma’s tea set.

Margaret insists on going downstairs. She asks M.J. to help her. He picks up her almost weightless body and places her in a wheelchair. Margaret explains what the people in her house are doing with the ceramics. Once they are downstairs, Margaret tells M.J. to go to the studio and meet Tink, the artist behind all the activity. When M.J. enters the studio, he sees the likeness of his wife, Gina. It is a sculpture of her made of a million pieces of broken ceramics. The sculpture looks exactly like Gina looked in the only photograph M.J. has of her. The only difference is that Gina has wings in the sculpture. Then he hears someone say hello.

He finds a young woman sitting on a stool at a worktable. The young woman asks if he is a volunteer and then introduces herself as Wanda Schultz. M.J. recognizes his daughter but does not yet give himself away. Instead, he allows Wanda to lead him to the dinner table.

Margaret’s dream is shared. She is in the backyard, preparing to take a ride in a hot air balloon. The balloon, however, is having trouble getting off the ground. Margaret orders that all the crates inside the passenger compartment be thrown out. When the weight is decreased, the balloon ascends, but it only moves slowly. People begin to jump over the side so the balloon can go higher. The people who jump overboard use plates as parachutes and land safely on the ground. One by one the passengers leave until Margaret is the only person remaining in the rising balloon.

When Wanda comes out of the studio, she goes to Margaret and cradles her now cold hand in her own. She knows Margaret is dead. She cries as she tucks a blanket around the woman. Troy comforts Wanda. They decide to leave Margaret there in the lounge chair next to the table where they will all eat Thanksgiving dinner. Wanda knows Margaret would have liked that.

As she had wished, Margaret’s ashes are placed in several teapots and given to the people closest to her to do with as they choose. Troy mixes the ashes he receives into some grout he will use to make a new mosaic.

Margaret had taken care of most of their finances. She had invested the rent the boarders had paid her over the years. She had also left them all her stocks and created an endowment to ensure the school would continue. Wanda receives full ownership of her studio and all the remaining items in Margaret’s father’s collection. Gus is given the main house and all its furnishings.

M.J. has moved into the house. He continues his job at the bowling alley, and on the side he takes the job as gardener. The grounds around Margaret’s house had long been neglected. Wanda and Gus know Margaret would be pleased to see the gardens come back to life. Susan and Bruce become parents. The birth of their child is a household festivity. The boy, named August, is born on the dining room table.

M.J. is called Mr. Striker. Wanda does not trust him. M.J. has not yet revealed his identity to her. M.J. takes his time designing the new gardens. Troy often works with him in drawing up the plans. Wanda is curious about this man. He never talks about himself, and she wonders where he came from. She feels curious about why he is there.

M.J. begins his yard work at the back of the property, near Wanda’s studio. Slowly Wanda begins to enjoy his presence. He is a silent man, and she appreciates being silent with him. One day, Wanda mentions that her parents were bowlers. The piece she is currently working on is about her parents, she tells M.J.

M.J. knows Troy is in love with Wanda. He tells Wanda that a love like that is rare and she had better do something about it before she loses him. Wanda remains very curt with Troy, saying that if he wanted to leave her he could at any time. Then one night Wanda receives a phone call from the clerk at one of the record shops she had visited. The clerk tells her that the man she had been looking for is there. Wanda hurries to the store. Peter is there with a young woman, and he is drunk. Wanda goes up to him. He remembers her. The two of them have little to share. Wanda recognizes how selfish and self-centered Peter is. She realizes she no longer wants anything to do with him.

When Wanda returns to the house, M.J. is singing a song that stirs a childhood memory in her. She decides to take a chance and opens up to M.J., wondering all the time if this man is indeed her father. After they re-establish their relationship, Wanda says she understands why her father had to leave her to look for her mother. Wanda asks if he ever found her. M.J. says he did not, but he found someone else.

As the novel closes, Wanda and Troy celebrate their wedding with all the people living at the house.