The tale of the various participants in this kaleidoscope of unreality, given as they are to flights of fancy and daydreams ranging from the absurd to states of overwhelming bewilderment, begins with Cedric, incarcerated from time to time in a caring but confining institution that offers him the best, albeit rudimentary, treatment available earlier in the twentieth century for those suffering ‘nervous afflictions”. The unfolding of his predicament and the involvement of his immediate family lead us back and forth over generations as they cope either successfully or disastrously, deludedly or occasionally murderously, with their lives.
How will the corrosive lies and concealments, variously enacted by and visited upon this family, affect them as they pursue their ordinary lives, filled with hopes, preoccupations, successes and failures? The saga unfolds, peopled by a medley of exuberant, ribald and confused characters, revealing how the foibles and derangements of one generation can have unfortunate and unforeseen consequences for their successors.