Assigned to the same suite during their freshman year at Quincy-Hawthorne College, Lainey, Ji Sun, Alice, and Margaret quickly become inseparable. But their bonds must weather threats that come from the dark forests of their childhoods, and beyond - from institutions, from one another, and ultimately, from within themselves.

As they move through their wild college days to their more feral days as new parents, each of the four friends will make a terrible mistake. With one part of the novel devoted to each mistake - the Accident, the Accusation, the Kiss, and the Bite -The Other's Gold reveals the achingly familiar ways our life-defining turning points prompt our relationships to unravel and re-knit, as the women discover what they and their loved ones are capable of, and capable of forgiving.