Liam Pennywell, a recently retired man, moves into a small apartment in Baltimore hoping for a quiet and simple life. However, on his first night there, he is attacked by an intruder and wakes up in the hospital with no memory of what happened.
Unable to let go of the missing memory, Liam becomes obsessed with uncovering the details of the assault. As he tries to reconstruct that night, he also reconnects with his adult daughters and reflects on his emotionally distant past.
The novel focuses less on the mystery itself and more on themes of memory, aging, and self-reflection, as Liam gradually confronts the emptiness and passivity of his life.