From her remarkable birth in the kitchen in 1905 to how she imagines her obituary will read in the 1990s, this fictional autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett spans a lifetime and most of the twentieth century. Hers is a life formed by a string of small accidents, with few conscious decisions on her part to shape her own destiny; her plight is enigmatic of the women of her generation.

As legend would have it, Daisy's parents were an odd match. Her father, stonemason Cuyler Goodwill, surprised everyone by marrying Mercy Stone, an obese, orphaned housekeeper at the Stonewall Orphans' Home. In her vague way, Mercy seems to have missed large chunks of what it means to be married, including her own pregnancy. When she went into labor, she was bewildered, uncomprehending, and died moments after the birth, from what must have been equal parts shock and eclampsia...