In the Paris of 1970, the hippie revolution has yet to crash land and Minnette searches hungrily for a way to enlightenment. She finds it. Or she finds something and the path of her life is set. But, by the beginning of the 21st Century, Minnette is haunted by the shades of recurring dreams and recurring memories, unsure whether the city around her is as solid as it appears. She looks back on her life's search—and on a winter's evening in Toledo when, for a moment, the gates to another world may have opened—and feels the defeat of a life thrown away. But something moves in the shadows, something that comes closer each evening.