This modern gothic tale is set in the present in a small central Wisconsin town where Cara Bow Eden Keck's life is on hold. Her goal of becoming a PhD chemist is interrupted by an unplanned pregnancy. She feels trapped in a small Wisconsin town, in a strange house, and in a loveless marriage with her clueless husband, Kelwyn, and the unwanted child, Polly. Her cat, Mewmew, is an innocent observer of the ongoing strife. There is enmity between the mother and the child who behaves in torturous ways toward her mother daily-often with suggestions of the supernatural. This drives Cara Bow to thoughts of murder via poison extracted from plum seeds. Kind fate intervenes, and Cara Bow is at last free to pursue her way forward.