Two characters, a reclusive professor of psychiatry and a brilliant, erratic student, are thrown together by circumstances beyond their control. Each has a theory of mind, gradually revealed and put to the test as a result of their interactions and conversations, as well as their encounters with a number of unusual characters: sideshow performers, an escape artist, three eccentric philosophers, and others. Like "The Plague" by Albert Camus, Heather Folsom's novel explores urgent contemporary themes: the nature of good and evil, truth, and freedom -- using allegory, irony, and Socratic discourse.