Samantha Flint, the figure at the book's center, flees from the Midwest to Smith College to shake her past, to invent a future she can live with. There she meets the redoubtable Mimi Mohr, who soon becomes her friend, confidante, and inspiration; together (and apart) they spend the next decade and a half in New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, each new city and job taking them to fresh heights of power and wealth.

Yet everything Sam wants seems destined to elude her, even as it comes easily to Mimi; decisions soon slip beyond her control; and alter a series of moral lapses - some desperate, some careless - Samantha Flint finds that her dreams, through neglect, have turned violently against her.