Set in their ways, even NORA and EVAN's arguments are routine and passionless. The arrival of a mysterious Valentine card opens the first crack in their long, frozen marriage. Repressed feelings of regret over lost and wasted opportunities bring to the surface the emotional scars from their traumatic pasts. Now they fight for the courage to share their pain so they can connect with each other one last time. Unable to confront her own past, Nora presses Evan to reveal deeper and deeper layers of his own emotional wounds through the use of sexual experimentation. Slowly she whittles away at Evan's protective armor until he is practically reliving the very cause of his emotional injury. Only then is she able to reveal to Evan and to the audience her complicity in her past sins and the guilt she still harbors. A parallel story between young lovers Amber and Joel show the bureaucratic hoops they must jump through for their marriage license. Their sexual relationship is carefree, a dark foreshadowing of the rigid mores their society will eventually impose on them. Their desire for marriage is dashed when they fail the government's compatibility tests. Unable to accept their fate, Joel lashes out and is immediately incarcerated while Amber is returned to the marriage pool, destined to be paired with a more suitable mate. Unable to let go of Joel, Amber carries a torch for him while enduring a loveless marriage with her new husband. Past and present collide when the two stories intersect.