Donny, an American expat teaching English in the Madrid, Spain of the Great Recession, is a recovering addict who's spent the last ten years struggling to write a novel. To fulfill this lifelong dream, he's put everything else on hold, including his friendships, career, and starting a family with Alba, the woman who rescued him from his vices.
One day, he looks out his window at a construction site and spots the remains of a water supply tunnel that dates back to the height of the Spanish Empire. The discovery becomes an obsession that eventually fuels inspiration for a new novel, one...