Jane Seville owns a bookstore in Columbus, Ohio and can't believe she's actually written one of these book things she's been selling to others for years. Her coworkers are a little surprised that her first effort is about a gay relationship, but she isn't. She grew up in Syracuse, New York where her mother directed the local gay men's chorus, and she attended a women's college. Sometimes it's the straight lifestyle that seems alternative to her.

Jane lives in a house too big for her that she got in her divorce. She shares it with a Newfoundland and a pack of unruly friends who come around every few days to be fed. She's a pathological reader and collects cookbooks, of which she has over five hundred. She frequently visits the Columbus neighborhood where Jack and D live and she's even picked out a house for them. She's waiting to be invited over for dinner.