Laurel is terrified of water; Mama is a former swimming champion who abandoned her Olympic aspirations for the safety of marriage. When Laurel must learn to swim, she convinces Mama to give her lessons, tentatively beginning an extraordinary friendship. The two slowly reveal the secrets of their lives: Laurel cannot seem to tell her boyfriend about her phobia of water, or the tragedy that triggered it; Mama in turn shares her fears of having children, a powerful unease that has kept her using birth control as her unsuspecting, frustrated husband stews and their thirteen-year marriage slowly dissolves.

Just as Laurel and Mama are discovering the trust and ease that characterize the best of women's friendships, however, an intimate revelation turns their lives to chaos and threatens to shatter their bond.

The story behind the story of Swimming Lessons is one of women's friendship as well: The authors, who have never met, became telephone friends trading writing ideas until a collaboration grew over numerous fax exchanges and phone calls and Swimming Lessons was born.