In 1948, at the age of 57, Margaret Cantrell, an ex-Ziegfeld Follies singing star from Southern Illinois, married for the first time. Her bridegroom was Mac McIntyre, a childhood friend who had recently been widowed, and in one fell swoop she became stepmother, mother-in-law, and a grandmother. From her post-Broadway career as a receptionist for a large New York corporation, she moved to a Long Island farm and began the life of a country housewife. The family she inherited included three stepchildren, their spouses, and eventually twelve step-grandchildren.

This lighthearted memoir of how she influenced that family, particularly the author, and changed forever their perception of what a stepmother, mother-in-law, and grandmother should be.