The story, told first from Beth's point of view and then from Vincent's, shows the two sides of the coin, the divergent thoughts and feelings of the two main characters.

The reader sees how the schism develops between Beth and Vincent, how each is feeling and reacting to the other. Pat and Kerry are on the periphery, almost as if they are looking over a fence at the other two.

The relationship between Pat and Vincent is not drawn fully through this period, leaving the reader to focus on the problems Beth and Vincent are facing.

The use of the prologue, set ten years after the event, underscores how the lives of the family are changed in a millisecond, taking a path no one could have planned for. The pictures that Beth is at last able to look at give no hint of how the family has managed...