The White Devil tells the story of an aspiring American actress, who, together with her too-charming brother, is implicated in a series of crimes dating back to their childhood days in Texas. The novel begins in Rome, among the American ex-patriot community, and from there follows the siblings latest obsessions: an aging Italian actress and her charismatic husband. Stansberry's protagonist, Vicki Wilson, narrates the story in a voice alternately intimate and distant, a cipher of unwholesome impulse and erotic intrigue.