On the surface, Julia O'Casey seems to have brushed aside the limited trappings of her small-town Maritime upbringing. She has married well: her husband, Dan, is a respected professor at Trinity College in Dublin; they have two young children, and she has obtained a university education - something she would have considered impossible during her difficult childhood. She and Dan have also begun a project together: Julia's aunt has given them the journals of Cora McGilchrist, a long-dead relative. The journals, written in Gaelic, document the sad, lonely, and dangerous life of a troubled young girl. But as the translation moves forward, Julia discovers evidence that her husband has been unfaithful.