When Christine Zidar returns home from the mental institution where she has spent most of her life, she becomes overwhelmed by hallucinations of those who died trying to reach the summit of Mount Everest. She returns to her reclusive mother and a house with years of hoarded trash. She learns they are about to be evicted due to years of health code violations. She retreats into the recesses of her mind and finds the counsel of her alter ego, Leandra, who urges her into a life of prostitution, in hopes of bribing city officials to drop the proceedings. As the plan fails, Christine and Leandra seek refuge on the frozen slopes of Everest.