The novel opens in 1947 with the introduction of a large cast of characters whose lives — in the manner of "Six Degrees of Separation" (or a soap opera) — are connected in ways they themselves may not always be aware of. Kay, a woman with cropped hair and a penchant for masculine dress, is renting a room from a Christian Science healer whose clients include a pensioner with a lame leg. The pensioner visits once a week in the company of a young man he calls his nephew, even though they're not related. This young man, who has recently been released from prison, is the brother of a woman whose long relationship with a married man is starting to unravel. She, in turn, shares her office at a matrimonial agency with a woman who is consumed with jealousy over the friendship between her lover, a female mystery writer, and a radio announcer, also female.