1910. The best-selling novel Young Molly brings her little brother and her bulldog to the big city in hopes of finding success. She finds a job writing amusing Real letters from Imaginary Persons to invalids. This fortuitous employment leads her to romance. The book begins: The morning was as dark and cold as city snow could make it-a dingy whirl at the window; a smoky gust through the fireplace; a shadow black as a bear's cave under the table. Nothing in all the cavernous room, loomed really warm or familiar except a glass of stale water, and a vapid, half-eaten grapefruit.