A labyrinth of devastating family secrets and taboos, No Pockets in a Shroud unfolds like a Chinese box, a story within a story. In the first generation, the mother, Miss Magg, loved the younger brother, Tiger Godbolt. However, an insecure orphan, Miss Magg wound up marrying the older staid brother, Reverend Godbolt, for security. Ironically, years later, the daugther, Nefertiti, also marires the brother who was her parents' pick, as the original love triangle is mirrored in the next generation.