Three parts love, two parts grit, the perfect recipe for making a family. Rae Green believes in the power of a good recipe, not only in the kitchen but in life as well. She invests in preparation, hard work, and independence - until the night a stranger calls to ask if she is willing to take custody of her two nieces. The children are virtual strangers since their drug-addled mother banished Rae four long years ago, but with her sister's incarceration, she agrees. Rae's well-ordered life goes into the toilet, accompanied by everything she thought she knew. With Melissa, a disturbed five-year-old, and newly adolescent Torey, the drama queen from hell, in tow, Rae stumbles into romance and a desperate need to heal her nieces from their past. And maybe, along the way, figure out how to heal herself as well.