Now women of a certain age and separated by half a continent due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Tess Garrett and Ava Brinkman reminisce over weekly Skype sessions about the special time in their lives when they were free to live their dreams... After the dissolution of her second marriage, Tess Garrett finds herself lonely and at loose ends in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Unable to return to her home state of California for economic reasons, she is desperate for a new beginning in Saint Paul...but what should that new beginning be for an introverted, middle-aged woman with a limited social network and even less money? With nothing to lose but marginal financial security and a small chunk of real estate equity, Tess decides that she will seize the moment and pursue her dream...the dream of living full-time on a houseboat, even if that houseboat is frozen solid into the Mississippi River for much of the year.Thus begins Tess' adventure as a liveaboard at the Saint Paul Yacht Club. As her days on the river unfold into this new chapter of her life, so, too, do her social connections, thanks mostly to her yacht club neighbor Ava, another single woman whose life is in transition. Together, the two women adjust to the challenges and perils of their new lifestyle with the help and sometimes, the obstacles, they encounter in their new community. Slowly, Tess and Ava become an integral part of this community and when tragedy threatens a member of Tess' family, it is her friendship with Ava and her ragtag yacht club neighbors that see her through her crisis.A place both foreign and unknowable to outsiders becomes Tess' salvation; neighbors become family and for the first time in her life, Tess knows that she is exactly where she belongs, which is its own joyous revelation...Tess had never felt that she belonged anywhere at all before she took up residence at the Saint Paul Yacht Club.