Summary

In Chapter 1, Lorna Mott Dumas is in a taxi in the small village of Pont-les-Puits, France. She is leaving town but stops to look over the cemetery. During heavy rain, a section of the hillside slid away. Graves have been disrupted and caskets have burst open. Lorna sees this as a sign that it is impossible to foresee what will happen. Lorna is on the way to America where she is to give a lecture. She has decided she will not return because she can no longer live with the philandering ways of her husband, Armand-Loup Dumas. Lorna feels she has made a mess of her life – a feeling made more difficult by the fact that she considers herself an intelligent, accomplished woman. While Lorna is leaving town, the people of Pont-les-Puits begin to discuss how to deal with the cemetery disaster. The...