A young, beautiful, shy girl named Mirabelle, a glove counter worker at Neiman Marcus, begins a relationship with a wealthy businessman old enough to be her father.
A woman goes to a department store to buy a gold thimble, but after an odd encounter with the sales woman on the eighteenth floor, learns that the store actually only has nine floors.
Even though she is engaged, fashion designer Lucia Sartori falls in love with a good-looking stranger who promises her a life of luxury, and she almost destroys her Italian family ties.
Reluctant to believe that there's a world outside the department store in which they live, Torrit, Dorcas, and the other nomes look to Masklin, a newly arrived "outsider," to lead them to a safe haven when the store goes out of business.
Reluctant to believe that there is a world outside the department store in which they live, Torrit, Dorcas, and the other nomes look to Masklin, a newly arrived "outsider," to lead them to a safe haven when the store goes out of business.