Summary

The novel opens with a young man named Dominic drinking in a bar on Seventh Avenue. He notices a well-dressed, older man sitting at a nearby table. Dominic later strikes up a conversation with the man as they smoke outside the bar. The older man, who has recently moved to New York, suggests they go for a walk together. As they walk, they share a nostalgic conversation about the older man’s former life, during which he “had everything a man could wish for” (7). They discuss the lack of cemeteries in New York, and agree that there must be ghosts everywhere. After the older man entertains the idea of the deceased coming back to exist alongside the living, Dominic sinks to his knees and looks up at the older man.

In Chapter 2, a woman named Stephanie arrives in New York on a plane...