'What should a person be?' is the question the book's heroine, Sheila, tries to answer, along with her closest friend, Margot, and their friends—contemporary artists and intellectuals living in present-day Toronto.

The book's characters try to find their place in life, in creativity and in relationships, travel, try different professions, and find themselves in sad and absurd situations. A sudden conflict with her best friend forces the writer heroine to look at herself and her life differently.

'What should a person be?' is an ironic mix of autobiography and fiction, written in a daring, modern, vibrant, and figurative language.