David Trent is an aspiring novelist in Cambridge, Massachusetts trying to navigate his ambitions in a place that has writers around every corner. He lives in an apartment above Silas Hale, a famous author who, beneath his celebrated image, is a bombastic, vindictive monster.

Silas refuses to allow his new neighbor to even make eye contact with him—until David wins a prestigious award for his new book. Suddenly Silas is interested, if intensely spiteful. But soon the administrator of the award comes to David with alarming news that forces him into a desperate set of choices. Then fate intervenes with shocking consequences.