Jane and Eugenie Ingrams are mirror-image twins, and thus exact opposites. Halves of a whole, they are inseparable, each understanding her world through the other. But when Lucy, their artistic mother, moves her daughters from Deep River to Toronto (leaving behind a bewildered husband), she finds she can’t entirely escape the remains of their troubled marriage. Eugenie thrives in the jumble of urban life, but Jane is sickened by its underside: the mess of lost souls who live on the streets, the garbage, the noise and the violence. When their father eventually seeks them out, Jane is relieved for the chance to go back to Deep River. Eugenie agrees to return for the sake of her beloved sister -- a soon-to-be-tragic concession. Years later, Jane is a writer in Vancouver, living with her lover, Simon, a gifted illustrator. Although troubled by her past, she finds solace (and commercial success) in the rich, fabulist tales she and Simon create.