"Ouch! Ouch! Ouch!" fourteen-year-old Jane cried, believing she was being bitten by spiders as she fled her bedroom to seek the comfort of the sofa in the downstairs living room. In succeeding nights, this behavior was repeated, only now, she was also shouting, "Bats in the belfry! Bats in the belfry!" imagining there were people occupying the unfinished area of the upstairs that was accessed through her bedroom.

These episodes revealed for the first time she was having full-blown mental health issues. This was not news to her younger sisters, Elaine and Julie, who recognized from very young ages Jane's inappropriate and antisocial behavior.

As adults, the two younger sisters, for the most part, managed to escape from dealing with the tribulations presented by their older sister until their mother's heart attack when they were thrown into Jane's hell head on.