Cynthia Hound is a young woman who struggles with relationships. She has inherited wealth and doesn't trust others not to take advantage of it, becoming a recluse. A new neighbor, Cyrus, comes into her life and she recognises in him a fellow vulnerability and an electric sort of instability. Finally, she forms a relationship but can it be sustained after secrets are revealed? Flashbacks to her past reveal tantalising insights into her character and how it has been affected by family rejection. After a chance encounter with a suicide victim, she becomes fascinated with the darker side of life and death, and this obsession leads her and the reader down an unexpected path.