Kristin is a renowned art historian who has built a glittering career in the face of misogyny, developing an expertise that spans Renaissance frescoes and African tribal headdress. All the while she has remained true to the ideals of her activist youth: anti-establishment, anti-capitalist, anti-war, anti-religion, and feminist.

She is also a horrible mother. Her just-published memoir misses no detail of her professional life, yet fails to mention her sons. Peter is an investment banker with a specialty for lopsided deals with vulnerable developing nations. Simon is a depressed, failed author. Both resent Kristin for abandoning them as children to their father, seeming to choose professional glory over maternal responsibility. Neither, it seems, has ever shared their feelings with their mother.