Niece Beverley, a former WREN in World War II, comes to live in Ottawa after getting pregnant. Daisy takes over her late husband's gardening column in the local paper as "Mrs. Green Thumb" and her oldest daughter goes off to college. Cuyler Goodwill dies and his widow Maria disappears. Daisy visits her two childhood friends 'Fraidy' and 'Beans' and dates her editor Jay Dudley until he callously informs her that her gardening column has been taken over by a full-timer. Sorrow, 1965 After her job is taken over by someone else Daisy falls into a deep depression, punctuated by fits of rage, unable to get out of bed or take care of herself, although she seems to know that this will eventually pass. Every person in Daisy's life posits their own theory of her condition. Ease, 1977 With all of Daisy's children grown up and starting their own families Daisy moves to Sarasota, Florida to be near her childhood friends. Beverly's daughter, Victoria, has visited her great-aunt at least once a year, and proposes they visit the Orkney Islands with her college instructor. In Orkney they come across Mr. Flett, now 115 years old and barely cognizant. Illness and Decline, 1985 In her eightieth year Daisy suffers a serious heart attack in her home, the fall shattering her kneecaps beyond repair. Her childhood friends have predeceased her. She is able to maintain a small social circle at the hospital but is eventually moved to a long-term care facility since she can no longer walk. With little to do she spends most of her time reminiscing. Death (199-) After multiple strokes and another heart attack Daisy dies. The year is never revealed, so she could have lived to her nineties. This final chapter is punctuated with lists of things from Daisy's life, as well as brief conversations between her children and other relatives. The book ends with someone remarking there should have been daisies at the funeral. Background The title of the book might have been inspired by Pat Lowther's poetry collection A Stone Diary (1977). Lowther's murder in 1975 was the inspiration for Shields' earlier novel Swann: A Mystery (1987). Part of the setting for the book is the historic Vinegar Hill neighborhood of Bloomington, Indiana. Critical reception Kirkus Reviews wrote: "Shields, who began as a miniaturist, has come full bloom with this latest exploration of domestic plenitude and paucity;