As the Lambert family patriarch descends into dementia, his wife orchestrates a final Christmas gathering that forces their three estranged adult children to confront their own failures and the suffocating legacy of their upbringing. The narrative operates through a shifting, multi-perspective framework, tracking the individual trajectories of Alfred, Enid, and their children Gary, Chip, and Denise. Each character struggles against the constraints of their own professional disillusionment and the rigid, Midwestern expectations imposed by their parents. The story examines the friction between personal ambition and the inescapable gravity of family history, utilizing a blend of sharp social observation and psychological depth.

The work is widely recognized for its ambitious scope and its precise, often biting, dissection of the American middle-class experience. Critics frequently highlight the author's ability to balance complex, flawed character studies with a broader social critique of the late twentieth century. Readers often note the density of the prose and the unflinching portrayal of familial dysfunction, which serves to ground the narrative's more satirical elements. The novel remains a significant touchstone in contemporary literature for its technical command and its detailed, often uncomfortable, examination of the domestic sphere.