Emily McCrae serves as the main protagonist of the novel. Emily has a solidly middle-class upbringing growing up, something that her childhood best friend and erstwhile frenemy, Chess, points to throughout the novel. Her ex-husband Matt works as an accountant, just as her father does. She enjoys what she imagines to be a happy marriage, until she experiences symptoms of a mysterious disease, and Matt, who has been unfaithful, leaves her. Her character transforms as a result throughout the novel, as she accepts the truth that her marriage was a sham and gains confidence in herself and her artistic endeavors.

Emily writes safe and predicable mysteries, centered on Petal Bloom, a detective, who shares the series with Dex, a private investigator, and a character modeled after Matt. As Emily’s life unravels, so too does her ability to continue the series, which remains unfinished. Instead of the contracted 10th book, Emily writes about Villa Aestas, a move that frustrates her ex-husband and signifies how she begins to break away from his control. Although she took his last name when they were married, he forced her to use it professionally, despite her publisher’s displeasure.