Summary

The novel begins with an unnamed narrator explaining how it is that people often ask her about her mother, the famous actress, Katherine O'dell. The narrator then recollects how her mother used to eat her toast in the morning at their old home in Dartmouth Square. She describes the particular difficulty her mother has cleaning up after breakfast when their cleaner, Kitty, was out for the day. The narrator then changes focus to a photograph in which she and her mother are posing, while Kitty is working over the sink in the background.

The narrator informs us that the occasion for this photo was her twenty-first birthday. She describes the people in the photograph, and then proceeds to describe the night of the party. The narrator lists the arrival of her own friends from school, who arrive early in the evening. Then Katherine's...