Diane Collier, a woman of the 90’s who has achieved almost everything a career woman could want, is stricken with a terminal illness that even her good credit cards cannot protect her from. As she balances denial and acceptance, she tries to “hold on” to her world through indulgence in sex and chocolate and consumption of material goods while trying to make peace with her father after years of self-imposed exile. Her father, a painter who never forgave Diane for going into the commercial art field, tries to welcome her back, but their personalities are on a crash collision course, and he is unable to be the willing ear for her secret, that she will soon die. The image of time slipping by is accentuated for Diane when she meets a wise clock-shop owner who rents her an apartment near her parents’ house, while a mysterious angel, a cherubic little girl appears to Diane alone, calling her, inspiring her to paint a portrait of the angel and to face her destiny. Friends and family are not enough to lead Diane to acceptance of her fate, and she becomes kleptomanic in an effort to hold onto it all, culminating in a bank hostage crisis. Once her father realizes that he has held onto his own dreams for Diane instead of letting her explore her dreams, he relents and tries to assist her in “stealing” her life back. But it is the little angel who finally leads her to the tides and the realm beyond.