SUMMARY:  Samantha Cheeryble tells what she says is one of her favorite stories from when she was young. It's the story of how the afterlife is almost filled to capacity... and how she found out. A young Sam, new in New York, tries to get cynical Allessandra Allessandra to give her a job as a graphic designer. Allessandra is only interested in one of her designs... named for her childhood doll, Delilah, which she still carries around with her for comfort. And talks to. On her way home, she meets a seemingly-crazy homeless woman who reads her tarot and gives a cryptic forecast. Enter dapper but creepy Adam... who the homeless woman says is "fear itself." She chases Adam off while Sam goes home. That night, Adam visits her in his "true form" - a gigantic, monstrous insect. However, he's scared off when the doll, Delilah, comes to life... causing Sam to faint. Delilah strokes Sam's hair gently as she sleeps.

SUMMARY:  A young Samantha is at a funeral, at which her Aunt Dot fails to make her feel better about death's inevitability, and cruel classmates Agnes and Grelda make fun of her, and tell her that everybody dies - "It's not meant to be funny.  It's meant to scare you."  Adam appears, taunting her... and Sam wakes up in bed, terrified.  It's the morning after her encounter with Adam's true form, and a police officer knocks on the door, following up on her phone call.  When he says he didn't mean to scare her, Sam realizes that she's been hearing that phrase a lot lately.  She ushers the policeman out and goes to tell Allessandra her story.  She reluctantly accompanies Sam to go meet the homeless woman, whose name is Nomi.  Sam asks how to find Adam.  Nomi warns her not to try.  Allessandra gives Nomi her card, saying she knows how hard it is on the street and to contact her if she ever needs any help.  After they leave, Adam arrives.  Is Adam going to kill her?  The afterlife is almost full... where's she going to go?  Adam opens a jar, and a swarm of angry firebees rush out, attacking Nomi.  "Delilah will prevail," gasps Nomi, then expires.  Adam, smirking, reaches into Nomi's jacket and takes Allessandra's business card.

SUMMARY:  Sam goes home with Allessandra and meets her girlfriend, Zed, who plays violin for the Phil.  Zed thinks it's sweet that Samantha still has her childhood doll, and goes off to find her own, Moon Goddess.  Allessandra, worried that Sam's grip on reality is tenuous, tells her that dolls don't love you and don't miss you when you're gone.  Zed, arriving with her doll, is offended, and pointedly throws Moon Goddess in the trash, then storms off.  Sam ultimately decides that Allessandra is right, and she throws Delilah away.  Suddenly, Sam realizes that her painting, "Delilah's Secret," is in Allessandra's home.  How did it get there?  Adam arrives, demanding to be let in and given the doll. When Allessandra refuses, the lights go out... and Adam sends in his Living Shadows to hunt them. However, Delilah comes to life again and scares them off. Allessandra is convinced of Sam's story. Delilah says Samantha is special, and that nobody on this plane is safe - "the souls are taking sides."  As Allessandra goes to find Nomi, Delilah says there's a battle going on - the battle for "empty vessels of cloth and thread." The lights go out again... and when they come back on, Moon Goddess, towering above them all, has come to life. "I HAVE ARRIVED," she pronounces in an unearthly voice, as Delilah bows before her.

SUMMARY:  Delilah explains to Samantha that since the afterlife is full, souls are battling for empty vessels of cloth and thread - dolls - in which to manifest.  Moon Goddess is a powerful but young spirit.  Humans cannot be watching when the dolls come to life or turn back into dolls - it's against the rules.  Sam is told that she must get "the key" from a stranger.  She goes to find Allessandra and Nomi... and runs into three strangers at a bus stop.  They are just ordinary folks... until they are possessed by Adam.  They give Sam the key, but Adam arrives and launches a firebee attack.  Moon Goddess manifests and launches a counterattack of greenbees.  The greenbees kill all but one firebee - and that remaining firebee knocks out Samantha and mortally wounds Zed, who dies in Moon Goddess' arms.  Moon Goddess leaves... and a moment later, Adam arrives and gathers up the lone firebee.

SUMMARY:  A child's voice narrates the storybook history of the tale of Palimpsest. Good King Eurasmus and Queen Jezmerelda once ruled a land so far away, but the Queen and the Jester, also a Dollmaker, were having an affair. The Dollmaker knew he could never tell the Queen how much he truly loved her. One day, a stranger visited him while making dolls to amuse the Queen. It was Adam... and his feral assistant, the Soulhound. He helped the Dollmaker finish his doll... but enchanted the doll, trapping an unhappy soul inside it. The Queen loved the doll and named it Nomi. That night, the doll sprang to life, and the Queen died of fright. Nomi fled out of guilt. The narrator of this tale is Moon Goddess. Today: Samantha has been in a coma for six months following the firebee attack. Allessandra comes to visit her, still wracked with guilt for not being there when Sam was attacked and Zed was killed. She manages to bring Delilah to life. Adam knocks on the door... and Sam awakens. Allessandra tries to get her to run, but as Adam enters in his true form, Sam says this ends here. It's time to stand up to the bully.

SUMMARY:  Another child fills us in on the backstory of "Palimpsest."  The inventor Leonardo one day invented a transmogrifier.  Adam attempted to purchase it from him.  Leonardo at first agreed, but then thought better of it.  Before Adam returned with payment, Leonardo locked the transmogrifier in a box, threw it into the sea, and then gave away the key to a passing stranger.  Adam, enraged, had his Soulhound kill Leonardo.  Today: Samantha, after attempting to fight Adam, has found herself in the limbo between the living world and the afterlife, where she meets Zed, who says to tell Allessandra she loves her.  She then dreams of her dead relatives again... or is she dreaming?  They tell her she doesn't even remember her real family: "That day in the park... the painting." Adam has taken control of Delilah.  He tells Sam to look closer at her painting.  Sam tears away at her painting to find another painting underneath that she doesn't remember painting - the palimpsest - which pictures two red-headed girls holding hands... herself and Delilah.