Charlotte and Sally Maynard grew up in a rambling Connecticut country house that belonged to their stepfather, Whit Whitman. Perry and Spin, Whit's sons from his unhappy first marriage, were welcomed as weekend guests. All of the children received Whit's love and attention, but they were also influenced, for better and for worse, by his often misguided ideals and wildly narcissistic personality. When Whit dies, he leaves the estate in the care of his wife, Charlotte and Sally's mother, with the understanding that the home will revert to Perry and Spin when she passes away. But Joan, a stalwart sixty-something, isn't going anywhere soon. She's enjoying the house, which she shares with Charlotte, an agoraphobic mommy blogger, who doesn't actually have any children. She and her sister have a good relationship, and they're close, too, with their step brothers. But when Spin, the youngest, brings his beautiful fianc? Laurel Atwood home for the summer, she manages to subtly crack the polite veneer of the family, exposing an array of simmering resentments, old wounds, and troubling family secrets. Told from the sharp and wryly humorous perspective of the introverted Charlotte, THE CHILDREN examines themes of money, loyalty, trust, and familial love.