Hicklin, the collector, leaves Vancouver under traumatic circumstances to find himself living a bohemian lifestyle on the streets of a Montreal caught in the midst of political upheaval. Billy, the crossdressing butcher boy, leaves the farm and changes his name to Beau. Dahlia is the Westmount ballerina who severs all contact with her previous life to take on the emotionally frigid persona of Dolly. Finally there is Luce, the mysterious teenage runaway. Merrick has created a world of disparate characters who come together to cope with their own personal transformations.