Sam Brandt is a long-term denizen of Connecticut’s renowned Leverett School. As an English teacher, he has dedicated his life to providing his students with the same challenges, encouragement and sense of possibility that helped him and his friends become themselves here half a lifetime ago. Then Leverett’s headmaster asks Sam to help investigate a charge brought by one of his classmates that he was abused by a teacher. Sam is flooded with memories, above all of his overwhelming love for his friend Eddie and the support of his most inspiring mentor, Theodore Gibson. Sam’s search for the truth becomes a quest to get at the heart of Leverett, then and now.

Paul Dukach is heir apparent at Purcell & Stern, one of the last independent publishing houses in New York. Working with his boss, the flamboyant Homer Stern, he learns the ins and outs of the book trade. But Paul’s deepest admiration has always been reserved for one writer: poet Ida Perkins, whose longtime publisher (also her cousin and erstwhile lover) happens to be Homer’s biggest rival. When Paul at last has the chance to meet Ida, she entrusts him with her greatest secret --- one that will change all of their lives forever.