Sometimes one has to dream very hard to keep oneself sane. And that is what Echo Japonica did, hiding from a world disintegrating into chaos and brutality, groping despairingly through her shadowy fantasies until she came upon Snow City, where all was perfect and bright. And in that world she lived more and more, until one morning she awakened to discover that the real world had turned into a kind of faded delirium, and that she was now living, physically, in Snow City.But is Snow City as real as she thinks? And if it is, is it as perfect as she imagined? For as she attempts to pursue her quiet, musician's life, she is suddenly beset with what appear to be strange incursions from her dysfunctional past. A girl, Charity, returned in body from beyond death, wanders alone and friendless through the nighttime streets until at last a bewildered Echo takes her in. A gangster appears, burdened with grief and secrets, and his quiet demeanor hides not only a propensity to violence but an affinity for Bach's "Chaconne in D Minor" and a desire to assist Echo and her ghostly ward in any way he can.And his assistance proves indispensable when Charity is kidnapped by her parents, who intend to put her back in her grave...by whatever means necessary.