San Francisco in 1944 is a bustling place, a revolving door of soldiers and sailors passing through on their way to the war in the Pacific. Twenty-year-old Irene Cleary, however, is not going anywhere. Although she'd love to travel, the seamstress shop she inherited from her mentor keeps her firmly rooted in the only city she's ever known. She pours her energy into dressmaking and volunteers for the war effort by dancing with servicemen at the USO.

But Irene's life is transformed when she designs a gown for Cynthia Burke, the socialite whose new marriage to Max, a handsome Chicago businessman, is the talk of the Nob Hill elite. As Irene is drawn into the Burkes' glamorous, troubled orbit, and as she becomes absorbed in making costumes for the first American performance of a ballet called The Nutcracker, she finds herself on the threshold of exhilarating, perilous new worlds . . . and the most surprising discoveries of all will be the ones about herself.

Set in a vibrant city during a turbulent time, The World at Home is a coming-of-age story about creativity, loss, and the many lessons we learn from love.