A note in the mail announcing, "He's been alive. He died last week," summons painter Sunday Owens from Chicago to her native town. It has been five years since she has been back to see her sister, Delta, who has never left Salt County, where the local river routinely overflows its banks, taking bits and pieces of people's lives when the waters recede.

But more draws her to their childhood home than a desire for reconciliation with Delta; Sunday returns to claim her story and to unearth the secrets that have shaped her since her father, Mercury, left his shoes by the river and disappeared before she was born.

Now nearing midlife, Sunday and Delta learn that Mercury did not commit suicide as believed; he had lived another life - as someone other than their father. A new portrait of the Owens family - and their town - gradually emerges as Sunday and Delta grapple with why their father chose to abandon them. Meanwhile, they confront their own personal struggles and work to repair the tattered bonds of sisterhood.