In 1958 New York Diane Arbus is a housewife and mother who works as an assistant to her husband, a photographer employed by her wealthy parents. Respectable though her life is, she cannot help but feel uncomfortable in her privileged world. One night, a new neighbor catches Diane's eye, and the enigmatic man inspires her to set forth on the path to discovering her own artistry.

After a bomb destroys a railway carriage, the four survivors repair to the villa of one, Mrs. Delahunty, a writer of romance novels, a woman with a past. The others are an aging British general, a young German man, and Aimee, an American girl orphaned in the blast. As these four strangers recover in Umbria's countryside and become friends, Aimee's uncle, a cold and childless academic who studies red carpenter ants, arrives to fetch her. Mrs. Delahunty fears this may not be in Aimee's best interests, begins to drink heavily, and fails in her attempts to connect with Aimee's uncle. Meanwhile, a persistent detective investigates the blast. Written by <jhailey@hotmail.com>