As summerbegins, they are trying, with spotty success, to be parents to their 4-year-old daughter, Ruthie, while they struggle with intractable grief that's been tearing their marriage apart.
And, finally, the summerbegins on Memorial Day, a US public holiday which falls on the last Monday in May (after which it is socially acceptable to wear white), and ends on Labor Day, the first Monday in September.