In Toronto, Nickie and Emily have an immediate mutual attraction to each other the first time they speak to the other, although they have seen each other before in their general travels. In the course of their dating and becoming exclusive with each other, they fall in love. It isn't until this exclusivity that each learns the other is a damaged soul. Nickie, raised in England, moved to Toronto following the disappearance of his younger brother, and has worked one service job after another, landing on being a cabbie, in generally behaving like a zombie in his day-to-day life in his inability to cope. He also has a cool relationship with his parents, Katherine and William, because of the situation. His seeming only outlet to express his grief is the occasion fit of temper accompanied by some form of violence, even though he inherently is not a violent person. Emily, an aspiring artist, suffers from bipolar disorder, medication, which she often does not take, and adhering to a "system" w