 In 1975, at age 18, Phoebe is unhappy. When she was about 10, her father died of leukemia; her older sister Faith became a political radical, left for Europe with her boyfriend Wolf, and commits suicide in Portugal a year later. Phoebe, who has romantic ideas about both her father and Faith, decides to trace Faith s steps, find Wolf, and learn what really happened. She finds Wolf in Paris, and he tells her stories of Faith s radical activities, including joining the Red Army in Berlin. Phoebe has visions of her sister, seems close to madness, and may be headed for suicide herself. It s the trip to the cliffs of Portugal that will make the difference: breakthrough or breakdown?