Nathan Zuckerman returns to New York, the city he left eleven years before. But returning to city life after living alone on his New England mountain with no tasks other than his work is not easy. The allure of a young woman, the familiarity of an old acquaintance and the meeting of a further new acquaintance draw Zuckerman back to all he thought he had left behind. Suddenly involved, as he never wanted or intended to be involved again, with love, mourning, desire, and animosity, Zuckerman plays out an interior drama of vivid and poignant possibilities.