A tragic house fire forces Maggie Cameron to contact her wayward son in the autumn of 1933. Her granddaughters haven't seen their father in ten years. An unsettling reunion in Chicago brings with it ever more disturbing challenges. A family drama told in several voices: Maggie Cameron, widowed daughter of well-to-do Welsh immigrants; Margaret, the eldest granddaughter, whose adolescent struggles pale compared to the sinister secret she carries; Elizabeth, Margaret's sister, a talented and popular beauty brimming with optimism; Tom Cameron, sullen and disappointed in middle age, having settled for less than he believes life owes him; Kathleen, common law stepdaughter to Tom; and Johnny Gillespie, a tender-hearted Irish immigrant trapped in Chicago's underworld. Fiona provides a window to the future. Blurred boundaries, psychic visions and unspeakable secrets call for desperate solutions in this midwestern gothic tale.