Lila Kennedy begins in free fall. Her marriage to Dan has collapsed amid an affair with playground mother Marja, and her mother Francesca has recently died. In a house sprung with leaks, bills, and a barking dog, she clings to small routines—medication, late‑night sleepcasts, and walks on the Heath—to keep despair at bay. A humiliating school pick‑up confirms Marja is pregnant. Lila is pressed into costuming the school’s Peter Pan and spits out lies to her agent Anoushka about a promised book on happy singlehood that she hasn’t written.

At home, Bill—the gentle stepfather who raised her—cooks and steadies the girls, Celie and Violet. Dan phones to announce Marja is eighteen weeks along, suggesting Lila tell the girls; instead, Celie overhears and breaks down, scrolling the Instagram post that exposes the charade. Bill consoles Lila with blunt warmth. The next days lay bare Lila’s frayed defenses: a misread stranger in the garden (a landscaper Jensen) triggers an overreaction, and lunch with her candid friend Eleanor highlights Lila’s sharpened edges.

Parenting strains mount. The school calls: Celie has been forging dental notes and smoking weed. Lila’s attempt at calm confrontation collapses under Bill’s well‑meaning interruptions, and Celie storms off. Money tightens as Dan declares he’ll reduce support. In the midst, a suitcase appears: Gene—the long‑absent, TV‑footnote actor who is Lila’s biological father—has arrived and is promptly bitten by the family dog. Gene charms Violet, needles Bill, and maneuvers a place on the sofa while old grievances flare (even Bill’s nude portrait of Francesca becomes a battlefield). Lila allows Gene a night; one becomes more nights, then a stealth camp in the shed that ends with a sheepish rescue.

Anoushka dangles a lucrative follow‑up if Lila can deliver confessional, midlife‑sexy chapters fast. Spurred, Lila pours out raw pages about the breakup—and, searching for the ‘sexytimes’ sample she hasn’t lived, fumbles through fictional drafts until she chooses life over invention. She reaches tentatively toward connection: a shy, charged rapport with school dad Gabriel, and a grounded, surprising ease with Jensen. Household chaos crescendos—piano deliveries, jackhammers, Gene’s TV reruns—until a fragile truce forms. Gene bonds with Celie on a nocturnal Soho wander that ends in washable “tattoo” mischief and, crucially, Celie’s first laugh in weeks.

Momentum builds. Lila lands a six‑figure offer on a candid chapter about a joyful, low‑pressure night with “J,” drawn from a tender, consent‑careful encounter with Jensen in Bill’s garden studio. But the morning after, Bill and Gene unite to scold Lila’s overnight absence, alliances shift, and the house resumes its wary choreography. A brief peace follows: Gene tidies, Bill softens, and they even fix the cursed toilet together. Celie regains footing at school with an “Invisible Shield” of confidence and discovers a gift for animation fostered by kind classmate Martin.

The balance teeters. Jensen discovers an early draft in which Lila mined their intimacy for material; feeling exploited, he walks out. Reeling, Lila clears the attic with Bill and unearths a letter implying Francesca slept with Gene during a secret Dublin trip. Bill is shattered and retreats to his bungalow; Lila ejects Gene in fury. Alone with the girls, Lila gravitates back to Gabriel, a widower who kisses her palm, draws her into sex in his pristine flat, then asks her not to stay the night. Soon Lila learns he has been breadcrumbing multiple women: she tells fellow mother Jessie the truth and publicly confronts Gabriel, ending the fantasy.

Crisis strikes as a storm fells a tree and Bill suffers a heart attack. Lila calls the one person she can trust under pressure: Jensen. He drives her to the hospital, clears the fallen tree while she’s gone, and sits quietly with her when she returns. Lila cancels the sexy memoir with Anoushka’s blessing, sells her vintage Mercedes for cash, and weeps through a restorative massage. When Gene turns up at the ward, Lila sends him away to protect Bill’s fragile recovery. Penelope—Bill’s tender new companion—organizes medications and discharge with serene competence.

The school play becomes a crucible. At the Peter Pan performance, Gene appears intent on “telling Bill the truth.” To prevent a scene, Jensen relays Gene’s message by phone: Gene says he and Francesca did not sleep together; they partied, then parted. Bill, who had assumed otherwise, feels foolish but relieved. The curtain rises on a reimagined Peter Pan in Gene’s old sci‑fi costumes; when young Hugo freezes on stage, Celie stands to cheer, Lila joins, and the audience carries him through—an exhale of collective grace. Backstage, Lila confronts Gene for lying to spare Bill. He admits it and reveals he has quietly been helping at rehearsals and visiting the girls to steady them. Lila and Gene reconcile; he’ll do stateside fan conventions for cash but return.

In the lobby, Jessie douses Gabriel with wine, then invites Lila for a drink. Homeward in Jensen’s truck, with the girls singing, Lila feels a new peace. Jensen unveils a weathered bench to replace Bill’s, and on it Lila releases the last of Dan—acknowledging how unkindness and neglect predated the affair—and commits openly to Jensen. He meets vulnerability with humor and steadiness.

A postscript stitches the household into a looser, stronger weave. Gene thrives at conventions, splits his earnings with Lila, and signs on to help with the next school play. Bill moves in with Penelope, hosting weekly dinners that include Gene in a droll détente. Lila ghosts a scandal‑magnet actress for steady pay. Jensen works away briefly; they reunite with deeper ease. Francesca’s portrait returns to the living room—now modestly underpainted by an anonymous household artist. And when Dan and Marja’s fragile premature son finally comes home, Lila leads her daughters across the street with gifts, choosing kindness, continuity, and the complicated belonging they’ve built.