The Dearly Beloved

Lily gives birth to twin boys: Benjamin, “Bip,” and William, “Will.” Nan and James visit and hold the twins. Later, James suggests that he and Nan go to doctors for fertility treatments. Nan initially rejects this, believing that life is a miracle and that God must give it to her. James tells her that sometimes God wants people to do things for themselves.

Lily struggles with motherhood, feeling isolated, exhausted, and miserable, especially due to Will’s difficulties. She soon has Nan help her so that she can sleep. Lily thanks her and apologizes to Nan for missing the baby shower. Nan realizes that she is doing good by helping Lily despite their differences.

A year later, Bip continues to grow like other children, while Will exhibits signs of developmental delay. Lily and Charles struggle with everyday care like feeding and bathing. Lily eventually asks Charles to help her, and Nan expresses concern about Will to James.

Charles and Lily see a specialist, who diagnoses Will with autism and tells them that Will’s impairments will only worsen over the years. He encourages them to put him in an institutional home, which Lily refuses to do, not wanting Will to become an orphan. The doctor’s chuckling and his recommendation to institutionalize Will convince Lily to demand another doctor.

They see other doctors, who are also unhelpful. Nan goes to see Lily, who tells her about Will’s diagnosis. Lily then tells Nan that while she once thought her parents died for no reason, she now believes that they died to show her that Will’s life is meaningful. Nan holds him but cannot bear it. She tries to hide this, but Lily sees it and tells her to give Will back and stop coming to their house.

Lily works to take care of Will. She notices that Bip is like her parents in their joy, while Will is like her. She becomes angry at God for allowing Will to struggle when Charles had been so devout. Marcus mentions that he knows a boy like Will at his church. He and James go to see if one of the institutional homes would be good for the boy and maybe even for Will.

Charles and Lily see more unhelpful doctors, one of whom says that Will will never experience love or understand the abstract. Lily refuses to believe that Will can never be happy or love them in his own way and plans to find a way to help him. The home James and Marcus tour is well reputed, but the director reveals that the only medications they give the patients are sedatives for outbursts and that they keep most difficult ones locked up in rooms. They are horrified, and James calls Charles, telling him to never put Will in one of those homes.

The following year, Lily goes to the library while Marcus watches the twins. Lily’s studies make Charles nostalgic, but he starts to become depressed and experiences a crisis of faith due to Will’s struggles. He seeks comfort and assurance in God but feels that he failed both Lily and Bip: He has trouble understanding Lily’s grief and struggles to enjoy his time with Bip without feeling guilty about Will. He grows distant, which upsets Lily. He then realizes that Lily is a good mother to Will and that she has never stopped trying to help him. Charles starts to study the books with her, feeling the presence of possibilities again.

Alan Oxman confronts James about Charles’s absence and says that Charles needs to return or leave. James tells Nan this, and she confesses her negative feelings about Will to him. She feels shame that, unlike her father, she is judgmental and afraid of those who are different. They both agree that they need to help Charles so he can return to the pulpit.

James goes to the brownstone and tells Charles that he needs to preach about Will so that the congregation knows about his condition. Charles does this and confesses that he has turned from God as a result. Nan then visits Lily and admits the truth, and Lily tells her that she also has trouble standing Will. Nan then gives Lily contact information for a doctor James found whom he believes will be more helpful.

The congregation expresses concern about Charles’s sermon, but Marcus says that they need to understand suffering and not judge Charles for doubting himself. James defends Charles to the committee by expressing his non-literal interpretation of scripture and the need to confront uncertainty in faith. The committee votes to keep Charles as a minister, and he thanks James.

Lily meets Dr. Madeline Foster and has the same feeling she felt when she met Charles, which she takes as a good sign. Lily is starting to see signs and intuition as real and feels attuned to Will. She realizes that she lost this after her parents died, but she is regaining this with Charles, Bip, and Will. She meets Dr. Foster, who tells her that she wants to try to test Will’s behavior. After learning that Lily wants to alleviate Will’s outbursts, she gives her the number of her student Annelise Winny, who wrote about crying in her child psychology class. Because Annelise wants to see Will’s behavior at home, Charles and Lily allow her to rent their basement apartment. Lily feels grateful for Annelise’s accommodations. Charles wants to like her because she reminds him of Harold Evans but finds her too similar to God in his mind, which makes him feel uneasy. Annelise starts working with Will and gives Lily and Charles her findings. While demonstrating that Will’s acceptance of being held but not touched are different, Annelise hugs Charles, which makes Lily jealous. She starts holding Will while he is in her lap, which results in no outbursts. With Annelise’s encouragement, Lily starts to live like Will and starts to understand him better. Charles sees Lily and Will improve, but he does not engage much with him. Things are getting better, but Charles feels guilty because he turned from God during the ordeal.

Nan has decided to get a small surgery with James to help them both become more fertile. She is now in the third trimester of pregnancy, and she and James are happily awaiting the birth of their child. She regrets that she cannot help Lily with Will, however.

James and Nan build a nursery, and James feels sympathy for Charles and Lily. The feminist group then suggests creating a daycare at the church, and James agrees. Marcus doubts him because of the boy at his church being unable to go to school, and James states that it is illegal for him not to go to school. James then decides to make a school for children with autism like Will and the boy at Marcus’s church. Nan sees Lily outside the church and gets to the topic of Charles being back. Lily notices that he is still not himself and that his faith is still strained. When she returns home, Annelise asks what is wrong, and Lily reveals that she is upset about Nan’s involvement in Charles’s life. Annelise concludes that she is jealous and Nan is lonely. Lily then says that she always thought things were random and that she would be alone, but now she is not alone, and James and Nan will always be connected to her through Charles. Annelise comforts Lily, guessing that she has been sad due to not having faith in God or in others.

Lily calls Charles, and Annelise takes the boys so that Lily and Charles can talk alone. Lily confronts Charles about his inability to come back to God in his shame over turning away. She explains that Will shook Charles’s faith and that he cannot deal with it. She then says that she understands Charles’s faith in God now because she has faith in Will. He asks if she still does not believe in God, and she says that Annelise’s arrival has been a miracle, but she still does not believe in God or an afterlife. She then offers to pray with him, no longer averse to it. He leads a prayer to God for knowledge.

Nan gives birth to a girl that October. She and James name her Louise but decide to nickname her “Lola.” Nan finds herself amazed and overwhelmed by how happy Lola makes her and begins imagining Lola’s future with delight. James writes a sermon about God using medicine to perform miracles. He wonders about its appropriateness but decides to let it be. Nan now understands James’s desire for justice because she wants a better world for Lola. James and Nan take Lola to the brownstone so that Bip and Will can meet her. Bip adores Lola, and Will responds calmly to her, indicating that he likes her. Nan finally understands Lily, and Lily is happy for Nan, forgiving her. She says this to Charles, who reassures her of his love and loyalty, leading her to realize that she had wrongly doubted him.

Nan helps James and Marcus get the school going, and after seeing the institutional home apply the Lovaas method of autism treatment, the vice chancellor gives James the approval for the school, which will need certified special education teachers. James and Marcus prepare to spread the news about the school.

Marcus and Annelise soon fall in love, having spent the day together at a barbecue. They lament people’s disapproval of interracial relationships but do not care.

Later, James tells Annelise about the school. She tells them that they will need more money and a teacher per student but that they can get grants. James then tells her that he will make Annelise the principal of the school. She comes home and tells Lily that she should have another child so neither Bip nor Will will feel left out regardless of what the third is like. Lily decides that she cannot, however, because she believes that it would not be fair to Will and would trigger his sensory issues. Annelise then tells her about the school and that she will be a principal there, but she will still live with them and help Will at home. James then shows the school to Charles as a surprise. Charles is silent, but James knows that he will eventually get used to it. Charles then baptizes Lola in front of James and Nan, Nan’s parents, Lily, Bip, Will, Marcus, Annelise, and several others. Eventually, Marcus and Annelise marry, and Charles officiates their wedding. They then take a picture. Charles puts his hand on Will’s shoulder, and he does not react. Lily is happy, as are James and Nan and the others.

When Charles dies, Lily finds him in his study and is relieved that he died at home rather than in a hospital. She tells James not to bring Nan, and he and the ambulance come. She knows that she will grieve but is accepting of it, as she and Charles had a full, happy life together. The ambulance takes Charles’s body, and Nan soon brings food. Bip and his wife, Laura; Will; Marcus; and Annelise also come. Lily predicts that Nan will orchestrate the funeral. Lily will then move to Martha’s Vineyard, where she and Charles bought a house. She will spend time with his cousins and visit Bip and Will in Boston. She will take comfort in the house on Martha’s Vineyard and her memories of Charles. As Nan arrives, she realizes that she is connected to James and Nan through Charles and that she will never be alone.