Asked by a publisher to write a preface to her late husband's novel, Edna defiantly sets out to write a separate book "not just about Clarence but also about my life, as one could not pretend to understand Clarence without that." Simultaneously her neighbor asks her to care for an apartment full of plants and animals. The demands of the living things - a rat, fish, ferns - compete for Edna's attention with long-repressed memories. Day by day pages...