Trudi Chase is an apparently ordinary woman in her thirties. She visited a psychiatrist because she felt "unreal" and suffered from odd memory lapses. He discovered that she is inhabited by over ninety spirits, some aware of each other, some not. This book forms part of her attempt to come to terms with her separate selves and to reconcile them to each other. Her problems are apparently rooted in horrific childhood sexual abuse. Until she learns whether or not she killed the man who abused her, her therapy must continue. Her "troops" provide the narrative, when one voice tires, another takes over.