Ramona Smollens, a 17-year-old Philadelphia girl, is lonely and repressed. In 1950, after the death of her father, she meets Solomon Columbus on a park bench. They fall in love and marry. Ramona is unprepared for marriage. She has based her ideas of marriage and love on the allure of the silver screen, and is obsessed and fascinated with screen actress Rita Hayworth.

Ramona soon becomes disillusioned. She learns that life is not as portrayed on the silver screen, and attempts to escape from her powerful past, in which she had to contend with a rage-filled father and a narcissistic mother. She feels unfulfilled by her husband, who she believes is unfaithful to her.

The Lie is about the devastation a young woman can bring to her marriage with her fantasies and misconceptions. The characters are developed in depth. The study of the relationship between the mother and daughter is very perceptive. There is much information about Rita Hayworth. This is a unique story, beautifully written in the stream of consciousness form.