Set at the turn of the millennium, the sisters, transplants from New England, live in the San Francisco Bay area but in worlds separated by personality, values, and style. Jess, 23, a graduate student in philosophy, distributes leaflets for an organization called Save the Trees. At the same time, she works in a rare book store, Yorick's, full of books made of, yup, dead trees.
Emily, her older sister by five years, is, at the tender age of 28, the CEO of a flourishing data storage start-up she has named Veritech. She is involved with Jonathan, head of a data security start-up called ISIS on the East Coast. Jess mistrusts her sister's boyfriend.
Emily is flying high within the dot-com bubble. She is focused and practical, as well as thoughtful, ethical, and kind. Jess is "whimsical." Where Emily wears power suits, Jess dresses in oversized clothes. Where Emily is methodical, Jess is more reflective.
Jess is also slogging through graduate school, stuck in her objections to material she finds stuffy and starchy, wandering in a thicket of incompletes. Emily is scandalized when Jess becomes involved with the 30-ish head of Save the Trees, an idealist who has hardened into an ideologue.
Jess and Emily both set off on a paper chase. Emily's company goes public, and all its employees become instantly rich, at least on paper. Jess is in pursuit of a different kind of valuable paper, a vintage cookbook collection. The collection's owner has approached George Friedman, the owner of Yorick's, who enlists Jess' help.
