Asher is fifty years old and as this story starts he has just come back to New York on a journey into his past, and that of the city - a quest after what he was and a search for what goes on now. The city has changed and so has Asher.Immediately behind him in Hollywood are an adulterous wife and a declining career as a writer. More remotely behind him are the New York of his youth and his early adventures in life, love and literature. Around him is the new New York with the new young people, who are personified in his young cousin, Michael, and Michael's girl, Aurora...