Curtis tells the story of his relationship with a blind Aunt whose lover, Phillip, a Vancouver artist, died in 1917. Reading aloud to her the diary Phillip kept for a few months before his death, an obsessed Curtis examines parallels to his own life--his desire to become a good artist and to find some kind of love in his own life. But, like Harriet, he is blind in some ways--especially to the attentions of a gay friend. Main characters form a quadrangle that crosses gender and generations--with intersections that play out across Canadian cities from Vancouver to Halifax, with much of the story occurring in Edmonton.