Summary

The collection begins with “Ghosts and Empties,” in which an unnamed narrator explains that she has begun taking long walks through her Florida neighborhood at night to avoid lashing out in anger at her husband and two young sons. The neighborhood is slowly being gentrified, it was formerly a low-income area housing mostly people of color. When the narrator moved into her house, she discovered a homeless couple sleeping in her crawl space. As she walks, the narrator observes people in their houses through the windows.

She notes a house occupied by aging nuns, an obese boy walking on a treadmill staring at his own reflection in the window, a therapist sitting at his desk. She observes a friend drying herself off after a shower. She recalls visiting a nearby duck pond with her children...