The sitting month is what completes the cycle. Daughter becomes mother. There is no way to change what has always been true.

Jenny Huang has just given birth. Alone in her Upper West Side apartment, she stares at the small creature in the crib, waiting to feel something. Far from miraculously transformed, Jenny finds herself trapped in the brutal intimacy of early motherhood: a body that no longer feels like hers, milk that will not come in, a baby who cries through the night, and a loneliness that swallows her whole. Motherhood is just another thing to fail at.

Then Mama appears at the door. The same Mama who disappeared three years ago without a trace. She has returned to guide her daughter through zuò yuèzi, the sitting month: forty days of prescribed rest, lovingly prepared food, and ancient Chinese ritual. Follow the rules, her mother says, and all shall be well.

But as the weeks pass, Jenny can no longer tell the difference between illusion and reality. Her mother's presence draws old wounds to the surface and stirs memories she's spent years outrunning. Jenny is left wondering whether the tradition is restoring or unravelling her - and where the sitting month will end.