Years have passed since the initial success of Frankie Croy's debut novel and she has spent her career trying to live up to the expectations. To recharge and get re-inspired, Frankie retreats to her friend's vacant palazzo in Venice, where she meets Gilly, a precocious young admirer eager to make friends. But there's something about the young woman that gives Frankie pause. How much of what Gilly tells her is the truth? As a series of lies and revelations emerge, the lives of these two women will be tragically altered as the catastrophic 1966 flooding of Venice ravages the city.