Joe Gardner, a child of the Depression, is a successful plastics manufacturer in Seattle, Washington. After his wife dies, his four adult children move back in. Anne, 35 and an ex-hippie, has been divorced twice and returns with her two children, David and Sunny. Lindley, 31, is a sales representative in her father's company and a new mother. Jack, 30, is a drifter "trying to find himself," and Sam, Joe's youngest child, is a preppy who is married to Kay, a free-spirit.