After twelve years a young woman returns home to settle accounts with her doformed twin sister Laura. But Laura is inexplicably absent, and the visiting daughter's parents are enmeshed in their own emotional warfare. With the deceptive simplicity that has become Molinaro's literary hallmark, the stage is set for an explosive confrontation as the parents and visiting daughter take their positions around the traditional family table, with its centerpiece, an elegant arrangement of white roses.