Putting down roots is generally considered a good thing, a noble blow at the bewildering evanescence of modern life. But have you ever looked at the roots of a tree, particularly an old one? They twist and gnarl and jumble and make a dirty mess.

The roots of the fractious brood at the center of “Dividing the Estate,” the latest valedictory to Southern gentility by the national treasure that is Horton Foote, run deeper for some relatives than others. Several of them talk at length about hightailing it out of Harrison, Texas, and others have clearly harbored similar fantasies now and then. But these relics of an all-but-vanished age aren’t about to be easily dispersed.

Mr. Foote has been compared to Chekhov so often that the sight of a blinkered, diminished family converging on its financially unsound property immediately calls to mind the Ranevskayas of “The Cherry Orchard.” The 91-year-old Mr. Foote still has a few tricks left, though. And while he ambles along a familiar path, stopping along the way to cull from “The Little Foxes” and “No Exit,” he arrives at a completely different destination. It may not be the flashiest or tightest play in town, but he, director Michael Wilson, and a cast of 13 actors have assembled a mildly dark comedy — or perhaps a chipper tragedy — that finds room for Baptist hymns, squabbling servants, and the sort of circular family arguments that encapsulate a lifetime of sublimations and regrets.

About two-thirds of “Dividing the Estate” is devoted to the title activity — or at least the suggestion of it. Stella Gordon (Elizabeth Ashley), the doddering-when-she-wants-to-be matriarch, is sitting on 1,000 acres of what used to be prime real estate and is now surrounded by highways and strip malls. It’s 1987, and her three children have gathered for their twice- or thrice-yearly family meal and bickering session.

Her kids haven’t traveled far: The widowed Lucille (Penny Fuller) still lives in the house, and Lewis (Gerald McRaney), a sensitive soul with drinking, gambling, and woman troubles, lives in town, too. Also living with Stella is Lucille’s son, called Son (Devon Abner), who has been entrusted with minding the finances of the estate. This seems to consist largely of fending off the requests by Lewis and the third child, Mary Jo (Hallie Foote, Horton’s daughter), for cash advances.

Mary Jo and her husband, Bob (James DeMarse), are nearing insolvency in Houston, and they have enlisted Lewis in their lobbying efforts to break up the estate or at least start bequeathing chunks of it for tax purposes. But Stella won’t even consider the idea, leading to endless arguments over who deserves what, when they want it, and what will become of the family when they get it.

The vast majority of these arguments spring from the calculating, petty, endlessly wronged Mary Jo. As she did in the recent revival of her father’s “The Trip to Bountiful,” Ms. Foote finds the pathos in what easily have been an irredeemably small-minded character. When her coddled daughters dismiss the idea of claiming any of the furniture, Mary Jo’s drawn face conveys the missed opportunity but also the imminent dissolution of a heritage she values more than she’d ever let on.

Mr. Wilson’s cast largely holds its own against Ms. Foote’s formidable example. Ms. Ashley effortlessly scales back her considerable verve as a fading dowager, Ms. Fuller locates the responsibility of being the “good child,” Mr. Abner is terrific as the long-suffering Son, and Maggie Lacey is entirely convincing as Pauline, Son’s new girlfriend. The biggest surprise, though, is Mr. McRaney, a TV veteran (“Major Dad”) who turns the impulsive, damaged Lewis into a heart-rending weakling.

Mr. Foote acknowledges and even embraces the repetitions that steal their way into family discourse, but he and Mr. Wilson capture the cadences and hitches that give the play’s circular arguments just enough variation. It is during one of these many recapitulations that an exasperated Lucille turns to the newcomer Pauline and blurts out, “Did you ever see a family like this?” Pauline flashes an understanding smile, straightens her dress, and sits to join the Gordons for dinner. She is mature enough and worldly enough to see them as both unique and much like any other family. It remains Horton Foote’s nearly unparalleled gift to present them as such.

Until October 28 (59 E. 59th St., between Park and Madison avenues, 212-279-4200).