Poor old Alex is having a bit of a hard time…. Strange goings-on out on the Levels are unsettling her friends and clients and seem connected to new problems amongst the young men “with their hard eyes and crude letters tattooed on their knuckles, their suspicions and the scorn with which they treated this, their last chance”. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, her family are pestering her to do something about their mother who is suddenly acting very oddly indeed.