Something—some sort of urgency—has taken hold of the four O'Neill girls following the death of their youngest sister. These young, educated women from an upper-middle-class background are making choices that send their lives off in radically unconventional directions. The novel follows the girls' careers and loves from the anything-goes artist's life of Paris in the 1920's to a Bolshevik revolt in a convent; from scandalous liaisons to hostile encounters with British troops. The story is set in post civil war Northern Ireland (1925)—a time when emotions are still raw and families are often divided by political allegiances. The O'Neill family is no exception.