In the late 1880s, Famke Summerfugl is a young orphan struggling to survive in a small Danish convent. Her budding youth and growing promiscuity soon force her out of the convent and into dreary farm life in a nearby village. A chance meeting with Albert Castle, a mediocre artist, offers her freedom from this rural life and a new home in the seductive lair of the artist's studio. Now as his model and lover, Famke becomes the legend of his painting --- the mythological nymph of his masterpiece. But her idyllic life ends abruptly when Albert's wanderlust leads him to take passage on a ship bound for America, leaving Famke behind. Months go by and though she hasn't heard from Albert, Famke is convinced that he simply cannot live without her. So she schemes her way on board another ship sailing to America and launches a search for her lover. Once in America, her adventurous journey leads her to the seamy side of life --- through brothels and bordellos, finds her entangled with polygamists and introduces her to quite pleasurable yet unorthodox treatments for tuberculosis as she crisscrosses the American frontier in search of her lover.

In this her second novel, Susann Cokal spins a lyrical tale of lust and greed, polygamy and prostitution, disguise and deceit, and wit and humor.