The contemporary story of a woman grappling with the tangled knot of her life. Returning to Toronto, the city of her youth, for a retrospective of her art, controversial painter Elaine Risley is engulfed by vivid images of the past. Strongest of all is the figure of Cordelia, leader of the trio of girls who initiated her into the fierce politics of childhood and its secret worlds of friendship, longing, and betrayal.