The Five-Star Weekend

A NEW STREAMING SERIES ON PEACOCK STARTING JULY 9, STARRING JENNIFER GARNER, REGINA HALL, CHLOË SEVIGNY, GEMMA CHAN, AND D'ARCY CARDEN.

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Hotel Nantucket: After tragedy strikes, food blogger Hollis Shaw gathers four friends from different stages in her life to spend an unforgettable weekend on Nantucket.

Hollis Shaw’s life seems picture-perfect. She’s the creator of the popular food blog Hungry with Hollis and is married to Matthew, a dreamy heart surgeon. But after she and Matthew get into a heated argument one snowy morning, he leaves for the airport and is killed in a car accident. The cracks in Hollis’s perfect life―her strained marriage and her complicated relationship with her daughter, Caroline―grow deeper.

So when Hollis hears about something called a “Five-Star Weekend”―one woman organizes a trip for her best friend from each phase of her life: her teenage years, her twenties, her thirties, and midlife―she decides to host her own Five-Star Weekend on Nantucket. But the weekend doesn’t turn out to be a joyful Hallmark movie.

The husband of Hollis’s childhood friend Tatum arranges for Hollis’s first love, Jack Finigan, to spend time with them, stirring up old feelings. Meanwhile, Tatum is forced to play nice with abrasive and elitist Dru-Ann, Hollis’s best friend from UNC Chapel Hill. Dru-Ann’s career as a prominent Chicago sports agent is on the line after her comments about a client’s mental health issues are misconstrued online. Brooke, Hollis’s friend from their thirties, has just discovered that her husband is having an inappropriate relationship with a woman at work. Again! And then there’s Gigi, a stranger to everyone (including Hollis) who reached out to Hollis through her blog. Gigi embodies an unusual grace and, as it happens, has many secrets.

The Five-Star Weekend is a surprising and captivating story about friendship, love, and self-discovery set on Nantucket. It will be a weekend like no other.

Global streaming platforms and markets for THE FIVE STAR WEEKEND series:


US- Available on Peacock

UK – Available on Sky and NOW

Australia – Available on BINGE

Canada – Available on STACKTV

India - Available on The Peacock Hub on JioHotstar

New Zealand – Available on Hayu

Elin Hilderbrand first discovered the magic of Nantucket in July 1993. Her recipe for a happy island life includes running, writing at the beach, picnics at Eel Point with her three children, and singing "Home, Sweet Home" at the Club Car piano bar. Here's to Us is her seventeenth novel.

Praise for The Five-Star Weekend

"A dreamy Nantucket house party given by a meticulous hostess goes off the rails....The people in her books may screw up, but Hilderbrand always gets it right...Amazing."―Kirkus Reviews (starred)

"...a stunning, sun-drenched mix of romance and women’s fiction...This should become a beach bag staple."―Publisher's Weekly

"Hungry with Hollis is one of the internet’s hottest sites, but when Hollis’s husband dies in a car crash, her peppy posting flags. To cheer herself up, she curates the perfect house party with five close friends. Well, four close friends—and one follower she’s made a special connection with. Wait till she finds out just how special their connection is. If you aren’t already addicted to Hilderbrand’s Nantucket novels, there’s no time like the present."―Oprah Daily

“Hilderbrand's latest is dripping with her signature Nantucket details; the food descriptions alone are enough to get readers to book the next ferry. Readers will be transported both by the setting and the emotional drama as Hilderbrand sets up seemingly impossible odds, then manages a convincing happy ending…It's not officially summer without a novel from Hilderbrand, and she delivers exactly what her readers want—female friendship, family drama, and gorgeous descriptions of Nantucket.”

―Booklist

Elin Hilderbrand’s The Five-Star Weekend is a captivating and emotionally resonant exploration of grief, friendship, and the meticulously curated facades we present to the world. The novel centers around Hollis Shaw, a wildly successful food and lifestyle blogger whose brand is built on the illusion of domestic perfection. Her polished world shatters on a snowy morning when her husband, Matthew, is killed in a sudden car accident. The tragedy is compounded by a heavy layer of guilt, as the couple had engaged in a bitter argument just minutes before he left. Struggling to navigate her profound grief and a severely strained relationship with her college-aged daughter, Caroline, Hollis decides to orchestrate a highly controlled healing exercise. She plans a "Five-Star Weekend" at her summer home on Nantucket, inviting four different best friends—each representing a distinct phase of her life—hoping that a meticulously planned itinerary of gourmet meals and glamorous outings will help her reset and find closure.

The guest list is a carefully selected blend of women who each arrive carrying their own hidden burdens. Tatum is Hollis’s childhood best friend, a grounded local who feels she knows the "real" Hollis better than anyone, yet is secretly harboring the overwhelming anxiety of a pending breast cancer biopsy. Dru-Ann, Hollis’s college roommate and fiercely independent best friend from her twenties, is a high-powered sports agent currently weathering a devastating public relations scandal that threatens to permanently derail her career. Representing Hollis’s thirties is Brooke, a dedicated mom friend who is crumbling under the weight of her husband's repeated infidelities and desperately trying to maintain her own picture-perfect facade. Finally, there is Gigi, an internet friend whom Hollis has never actually met in person. Gigi represents Hollis’s current phase of life and has been a pillar of virtual support since Matthew's death, though her presence immediately raises suspicion among the more traditional friends.

As the weekend unfolds against the sun-drenched backdrop of Nantucket, Hollis’s desperate attempts to choreograph the perfect experience quickly begin to unravel. The clashing personalities of the women create immediate friction, particularly between the abrasive, straight-talking Dru-Ann and the fiercely territorial Tatum. Hollis tries to smooth over the tension with luxurious dinners, shopping trips, and forced bonding exercises, all while her daughter Caroline quietly films the entire gathering for a student documentary project. Caroline’s camera captures the stark contrast between Hollis’s glossy influencer performance and the messy, authentic reality bubbling beneath the surface. The weekend is further complicated by the unexpected reappearance of Jack Finigan, Hollis’s first love from high school, whom Tatum secretly invites to the island. Jack’s presence forces Hollis to confront the girl she used to be before the fame and tragedy, pulling her out of her carefully maintained emotional shell.

The narrative masterfully weaves between the perspectives of the women, allowing the reader to see how their individual crises inevitably bleed into the group dynamic. As the weekend progresses, the walls begin to come down. Dru-Ann is forced to confront the harsh reality that her public influence has left her deeply isolated, leading her to seek genuine intimacy and make amends for past harshness. Brooke, inspired by the strength of the women around her, finally finds the courage to stop shrinking herself, deciding to leave her toxic marriage and authentically embrace her own identity. Tatum receives the joyful news that her biopsy results are benign, a revelation that softens her sharp edges and allows her to fully reconnect with Hollis and forgive old grudges. However, the most explosive revelation of the weekend centers around the enigmatic Gigi. The group eventually discovers a shocking secret: Gigi is not just a supportive internet follower, but was actually engaged in a long-term affair with Matthew before his death.

The discovery of Gigi's affair brings the weekend to a breathless climax, forcing Hollis to face the ultimate test of her highly curated life. Instead of reacting with explosive vengeance or public banishment, Hollis makes a profoundly difficult and graceful choice. Recognizing the shared complexity of their grief and acknowledging the deep flaws in her own marriage, she chooses to confront the betrayal with honesty rather than performative rage. By doing so, Hollis finally shatters the illusion of her perfect life, allowing herself to be authentically messy, hurt, and human. The novel concludes with a powerful message about the nonlinear nature of grief and the enduring, evolutionary power of female friendship. Hilderbrand beautifully demonstrates that true healing does not come from orchestrated perfection or suppressing our pain for the camera, but from surrounding ourselves with people who are willing to witness our darkest moments and love us through them anyway.