A student moves to the city to research Gothic nudes. She rents an apartment from a painter, Agnes, who lives in another town with her husband. One day, Agnes arrives in the city and settles into the upstairs studio. In their meetings Agnes tells stories of her youth, her family, her marriage, and ideas for her art. The student is increasingly aware of Agnes's disintegration: her stories are frenetic; her art scattered and unfinished, white paint on a white canvas. The student is learning, from a cool distance, about the narrow divide between happiness and resentment, creativity and madness, contentment and chaos. -- Adapted from book jacket.