On a gray day at a gritty flea market, Caroline stumbles upon an unlikely treasure-jars and jars of buttons in a dazzling kaleidoscope of colors. She is reminded of something she has made herself forget-she too has a jar of buttons, an inheritance from her mother, which Caroline has put on the back of a shelf, out of sight, out of mind, out of her life. That night, Caroline takes the jar down from the shelf. Intending only to look at the buttons, she opens the lid . . . and pours out her family's secrets. THE BUTTON COLLECTOR unfolds with a series of vignettes in which each button reveals a piece of the complicated history of Caroline's family. A tragic accident has forever altered the relationship between Caroline, her mother Emma, and her cousin Gail. Caroline sifts through the joys and anguishes of the past, bringing both herself and the reader to the realization that memories-like buttons-can sometimes be used to fasten together something we have left undone by mistake.