Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie are three former wives living in the late sixties in a small Rhode Island town. They are also witches. For example, if Alexandra wants the beach to herself, a simple whipped-up thunderstorm does the trick nicely, and tennis games are made more challenging by balls that transform into frogs.

          Having, with considerable overlap, worked their way sexually through all the eligible — and ineligible, which they actually prefer — men in the area, the three become very intrigued at the appearance of the man who just moved into the old Lenox mansion down the street: one Darryl Van Horne from Manhattan. (The triumvirate’s interest quickly leads to a menage a quatre in Van Horne’s humongous teak bathtub.)

          A major subject in John Updike’s novels is the fallout of sex (usually adultery) and how it causes friction in otherwise smooth relationships. Thus, it’s not long before Alexandra, Jane, and Sukie are vying individually for further attention from Van Horne, to the detriment of their longterm friendship. And after a murder/suicide brings a fourth — and younger — female into the equation, tensions rise even further, especially when the new girl moves in with Van Horne…