A young woman lies in critical condition in a Bronx hospital, the victim of an assault. As her crisis looms her boyfriend spends a frantic weekend wandering through New York City trying to come to grips with the disaster, his mind filled with thoughts of her as well as reflections on his past life. Set in the 60s and using flashbacks and a variety of interior-monologue techniques, the novel chronicles through layers of memory and the narrator's shifting consciousness, his stark realization that in a world where everything he most values can be snatched away in an instant, his previous understanding is not enough to sustain him through the ordeal he suddenly confronts. Only a spiritual journey within can bring him to a more vital and encompassing view of reality.