"In March 1953, four women meet in Room 408 of Moscow's deluxe Metropole Hotel. They have gathered, not altogether willingly, to reminisce about Vladimir Mayakovsky, the poet who in death had become a national idol of Soviet Russia. In life, however, he was a much more complicated figure. Each of these ladies loved Mayakovsky in the course of his life, and as they piece together their memories of him, a portrait of the artist emerges."--

1929, Alaska. Tayler Hale, a naturalist, loves adventure and the great outdoors of Yellowstone. Her remote job location also helps keep her away from the clutches of the man to whom she once made a foolish promise. Then her boss arranges a new job for her-- at the popular Curry Hotel near Denali, Alaska. Recent graduate Thomas Smith has returned to the hotel and the people he considers family. But he must work with Tayler, everything becomes complicated....

"Meet Mazie Phillips: big-hearted and bawdy, she's the truth-telling proprietress of The Venice, the famed New York City movie theater. It's the Jazz Age, with romance and booze aplenty--even when Prohibition kicks in--and Mazie never turns down a night on the town. But her high spirits mask a childhood rooted in poverty, and her diary, always close at hand, holds her dearest secrets. When the Great Depression hits, Mazie's life is on the brink of...

When seven cash-strapped seniors decide to 'outsource' their retirement to a resort in far-off India, friendship and romance blossom in the most unexpected ways.