Mary-Rose MacKinnon is a successful author who has made enough from her writing to semi-retire in her early forties. She lives in a comfortable Toronto neighbourhood with her partner, Hilary, a busy theatre director, and their two young children, trying valiantly and often hilariously to balance her creative pursuits with domestic demands, and the various challenges that (mostly) solo parenting presents.
As a child, Mary-Rose suffered from an illness, long since cured and "filed separately" in her mind. But as her frustrations mount, she experiences a flare-up of forgotten symptoms which compel her to rethink her memories of her own childhood and her relationship with her parents.
With her world threatening to unravel, the spectre of domestic violence raises its head with dangerous implications for her life and that of her own children.
