In the beginning of the story, Georgie is thinking back to the time her mother was alive. Her mother had a love for a painter named Francesco del Cossa, and they traveled to Italy together to see his art firsthand. Georgie didn’t care for the art then but enjoyed the time she got to spend with her mother. Now a young, motherless girl, Geogie begins philosophizing on life and death. She doesn’t understand how her mother was alive but isn’t anymore, and how history works. She begins seeking out Cossa and his artwork, now as transfixed with his work as her mother once was, when she realizes that he also liked the idea that two things could be “both” things.
Francesco del Cossa is sent to earth in the modern-day London, which he first mistakes for the purgatory for his past sins. He then realizes that that is not the case, as he gets to see Georgie and recognizes a red line between their lives. Recollecting his life, he remembers his parents pushing him to become the best version of himself, and seeing things for what they are, and what they were supposed to be. They have an essence, their true selves, and the things they are in real life. Two different things at once.
Francesco sees the similarities between himself and Georgie. They both have a deeper understanding of what the world is, and the other part of the world that “is” as well, though it is not visible to the eye. Georgie got the revelation through the death of her mother, whilst Cossa learnt it from his parents and was able to express it though his art. Cossa is sent to heaven.
