The narrator, a self-professed, bi-coastal "romantichondriac" suffering from a bad case of middle age, falls "n-erotically" in love with Dex, a much younger man. Dex is a half-black, half-Vietnamese by-product of the Vietnam War who was raised by a foster family in Ohio. As the narrator nourishes and negates his obsession, it threatens his long-term relationship with his partner. The book's energy and subtext derive from the narrator's attempts to come to grips with his crushing desire and existential "dis-ease."