Christopher Hartley is the chair of the English department at the North Campus of Garden State University-a place he refers to as a "minimum intellectual facility." Recently returned from a medical leave begun after the death of his wife, Holly, sixteen months earlier, he is seeking some measure of peace.

As Chris prepares a brand-new course called Music in Literature, he hopes the combination of the two disciplines-a pairing that has always fascinated him-will help him overcome his grief and deal with the estrangement of his daughter, Ivy. Peace, however, is as elusive as music itself....