Cracks are starting to spread dangerously through Vesta McNaughton's finances, and if she doesn't find some new hairdressing work soon, or somewhere else to live, things are going to look bleak. So when a call comes from Winnie Ballantine, an old lady who lives in her personal gallery of paintings in the Edinburgh suburb of Trinity, Vesta has no choice but to take the job. Of course, the longer Vesta looks at the situation, the less she likes it. Life is short, and art is long, but sometimes life is even shorter than you expect.