In a work with two major sections entitled "Away" and "Home," the central theme involves the choices concerning where and how Sib should live her life. Four different characters in the novel compete for her attention: Taxi, Connie, Martin, and Dzyga.

Taxi has been Sib's only real parent for her entire life. The editor of an environmental newsletter in Washington, D.C., he monitors the political scene objectively and literately. Taxi explains to Sib how he continued his career and raised her at the same time. In this first-person narrative, Sib tellingly begins by describing Taxi's style. When Sib wants to see horses, he does not just take her to the nearest stable; instead, he drives six hours to the coastal sand dunes to let her experience the wild horses pounding down the beach.

In the scene where Sib overlooks her father's workbench, she...