The Annihilation of Fish plot
Poinsettia is a former housewife, living alone with unrequited dreams of romance that only her imaginary lover, 19th century composer Giacomo Puccini, can fulfill. Disgusted by a world that mocks her love and her plans to marry Puccini, she moves to Los Angeles for a change of scenery. Poinsettia takes a room in the feisty Mrs. Muldroone's boarding house and meets the other new tenant, named 'Fish', a Jamaican widower recently released from an overcrowded mental institution, despite his daily confrontations with an invisible, demonic assailant who attacks him without warning, nor any visible trace.