Originally published: New York, N.Y. : Ballantine Books, 2004.

Angie DeSaria was always 'the princess' of the family, a girl who thought she knew how her life would unfold. School. College. Marriage. Motherhood. That was how it had gone for her sisters, her cousins, her friends. But it didn't work out that way for Angie. She and her husband tried desperately to have a child; year after year, their perfectly decorated nursery remained empty. Finally, their marriage collapsed under the weight of lost dreams. After the divorce, Angie moves back to her hometown to help run the family restaurant with her loud, loving, slightly crazy relatives. In West End, a place where life rises and falls in time with the tides, she will find a man who once again will open her heart to love... and meet a girl who will change her life forever. Seventeen-year-old Lauren Ribido lives in a bad part of town and has aspirations she knows will never come to pass. But from the moment they meet, Angie sees something special in Lauren and wants to help her. However, nothing could ever prepare Angie for the far-reaching repercussions of an act of kindness. Together, they embark on a moving and deeply emotional journey to the very heart of what it means to be family.