Daniel's Daughter

Thirty-five year old Manhattan-based Cate Madighan is the successful editor-in-chief of Perfect, the premier lifestyle magazine, which she developed under the leadership of her mentor and now fiance, the much older media mogul Stewart Wallach. They live the life espoused in the magazine, which includes living clutter-free, even in an emotional sense. That life takes a surprise turn for Cate when she receives in the mail a package from her now deceased father, Daniel Madighan, who she has not seen in twenty-six years. She feels that he abandoned her after her mother died, when he, a shipbuilder, shipped her to live with relatives she did not know as he could not take care of her on his own as he went to a shipbuilding site to earn a living. He always vowed to send for her when he was able, which never happened. Before that time, she had a loving relationship with both her parents as well as happy life in their small seaside town of New Kerry, Massachusetts. The package contains his ashes and his last request for her to scatter them back in New Kerry where her mother is buried, and to have who were then his two best friends and singing partners, Cavanaugh and Donahue, sing "Danny Boy" at the scattering service, the song which they sang at his wife's memorial. Because of her estrangement from her father, Cate is reluctant to carry out this request, ultimately changing her mind if only to appear to be doing what she would tell her readers to do. Her colleagues, including Stewart, know nothing of her past, and as such she tells no one of this task, except her assistant, the efficient Jeffrey Lerner, who she takes to New Kerry with her. The plan is to do what her father wants as quickly as possible to put this part of her life behind her forever, so that she can go back to New York without the burden of her past and move on with her life with Stewart, including continue to prepare for their high-profile wedding in a month, which will be featured in the magazine. But Daniel's request is not as easy as she would like, in part since Cavanaugh and Donohue have themselves had a falling out over an issue they refuse to disclose after Daniel left New Kerry, they who have been bitter enemies since. But as Cate and Jeffrey's time in New Kerry is extended - life there which has largely stood still since her departure twenty-six years ago - Cate may come to terms with what she considered her sad and angry past. That new understanding also is due to her time with Conner Bailey, a man new to New Kerry and who may show Cate that there is a different yet fulfilling and happy life than that presented as Perfect.