Summary

The novel is set approximately in the present day, at a university in a town in the American Midwest. (The novel never names the university or the town.) The protagonist is Wallace, a graduate student in the university’s biochemistry student. Wallace is Black and gay, and he is originally from a small town in Alabama. Wallace is the first Black student in the university’s biochemistry program in decades. Wallace does not have any very close friendships at the university. Wallace’s lab experiments mostly involve breeding nematodes and examining their genes. One day, Wallace discovers that his nematode colonies have become inexplicably corrupted by a bacteria outbreak. Discouraged, Wallace decides to leave the lab and join some of the other biochemistry graduate students at a nearby pier. (The university is located near a large lake.) The students are surprised to see Wallace...