Life happens to two young people who are determined not to make the usual mistakes in love, marriage, and child-rearing. Starting with innocence in the 1960s (volume 1), growing through the 1970s (volume 4), Rod and Meg try to define their life paths, reacting as necessary to accommodate unexpected twists.
Each of the five novels stands on its own, but together, they form a narrative of a family coping with unexpected turns and changing moral codes.