The book opens in the late 18th century with the construction of the Blackbird House by fisherman John Hadley, who is lost at sea along with one of his sons during the British blockade. His surviving son Isaac returns home with a white blackbird that had turned pale from touching sea foam.

The stories then follow the different inhabitants of the Blackbird House over the centuries:
Ruth, an orphan taken in by a kind blacksmith, finds love but later loses her husband. Her daughter buries a token to help Ruth recover.
Violet, a bookish farm girl, is impregnated by a Harvard professor who marries her sister instead. She marries a good man and raises the professor's son as her own. Her grandson returns from WWII with a Jewish wife, a Holocaust survivor.

In the 1950s-60s, the house sees unhappiness - a murder, resentments, and a suicide.

The final stories revolve around a modern family rebuilding itself after their child's battle with leukemia, finding renewal at the farm.

Through tales of love, loss, resilience and transformation, the novel explores how this singular place shapes and connects the lives of its residents over generations

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