Life has never been easy for Delayna Parker. Coming from a dysfunctional family, and now in her 30's, divorced, childless, and at the end of a tumultuous relationship, at least she has two people she can lean on: her oldest sister, Maggie, and their hapless, bedraggled mother, Gert. But when their mother dies, grief is only the beginning. In the anguish laden days following their mother's death, Delayna finds herself caught between her conscious world and the world of her heart rending dreams. In both worlds, secrets surface and entwine that turn her lonely world upside down, and shake her image of self, of family, of truth and of love. In a matter of weeks she must deal with more changes than most people do in a lifetime. Sleep is no refuge, and to wake is tortuous. She must struggle to separate what's real from what's imagined; love from betrayal. As her dreams become more disturbing and more telling, she pulls toward a desperate goal: to wake and be at peace, for perhaps the first time in her life.