An unnamed narrator who is later revealed to be Pen Winters speaks to her infant daughter, reflecting on her own life and comparing the sacrifices that human mothers make to the sacrifices of mothers in the animal kingdom. She particularly focuses on octopi, who often allow themselves to be cannibalized by their young. She is 31 years old, and now that she is a mother, she feels closer than ever to the sacrifices that her own mother and grandmothers once made. She holds her daughter and remembers an important year in her own life, trying to decide which details to tell her daughter and which ones to keep to herself.

The narrative shifts into the past. In a letter addressed to Lord Elliot Lennox, a famous mystery writer, a much younger Pen Winters writes that she is a visiting student from Canada and is newly enrolled at the University of Edinburgh. She believes that Elliot and her father, Ted Winters, were college friends, and she has questions about their friendship. She also assures Ellion that she is not a deranged fan. The letter is dated September 2006.