Thanksgiving is a book about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. A lonely twelve-year-old girl grows up amid wide responsibilities, a former Manhattan murder detective tries to do right by his estranged children, a wife allows her husband a night out with an old friend, a young man's act of gratitude goes horribly wrong, a social worker makes an alarming call on her client, an old man trying to be decent to younger family members runs afoul of everyone, and a woman learns to turn a holiday by the sea into a family goodbye.