Throughout, the topography of the novel's setting often mirrors the emotions and experience of the characters. As the story chases the two women around the world, the tenor of their views of the world, and of their personal experiences, also shifts.

The novel begins in New York City, in a short prologue. Victoria is rushing about with job, relationship, and the fullness of city life. All this stops dead for a moment when she receives a phone call from her old friend Caitlin, who is calling from the calm of Martha's Vineyard, and who announces that she is going to marry Victoria's first and fullest love. Again, the chaos of the city descends.

It is in Martha's Vineyard that the bulk of the action takes place. It is in the Vineyard that the two women, as girls of twelve years of age, first solidify their friendship, and where...