From the elated light of love to the forbidding darkness of death these six, time progressive stories relate to the horrors of romantic involvement. Beginning in 1854, a London writer finds the prospects of love in a voice that emanates from a dark corner of his flat. The second story is set in 1876 and involves the insoluble relationship between a wealthy English army officer and a young woman of common status. The American Civil War is the backdrop for the third story, which tells of a young soldier who finds his one true love in the substance of his dreams. The forth story moves forward to Montana, 1910, and relates to the a father and his two sons who buy a house that is haunted by the ghost of a lovelorn female who is still seeking for love. Manfred's Gallery, the fifth story regales the reader with the story of schizophrenic artist in Seattle, Washington after World War II, who paints the portraits of his delusions. Lastly "The Atheist" is a man who becomes tired of his wife's religious fervor and decides to murder her; he subsequently falls to the horrors of providential justice.