Alison Poole is the novel's narrator and most-important character.

Twenty "going on 40,000," she feels she has seen everything and done everything, and her jaded response to most of what she sees points out the emptiness of a life lived only from one thrill to the next. Her acting is the only thing that seems to give her life focus, and praise from her teacher seems to mean more to her than anything else. Her family and friends, for the most part, are hindrances; her sister Rebecca is an exaggerated version of what Alison might become, manipulating men for financial security, while their father is too busy pursuing girls Alison's age to make sure her financial arrangements are in order. Alison truly loves only her grandparents and her youngest sister, none of whom appears in the novel.

Dean Chasen, a thirty-two-year-old stockbroker who wants to be a writer, captures...