Helen grows up to become a mass of intriguing contradictions: as warm-hearted　as she is sharp-witted, as steadfast in her friendships as she is eclectic in her loves,　as worldly and stylish as she is poetical and academic. And when she gets tripped　up by the contradictions - or by the absurd and confusing vagaries of love.

Helen picks herself up and gets on with it because she's too much of a one-off to wait around to be rescued.