San Francisco, 1993. Choreographer Calvin Tropp is jerked out of artistic lethargy when he hears a predawn whisper: "We are going to make a new dance, and the theme is prayer." Cal is not a religious man and knows nothing about prayer, but his creative fire is reignited. Opening night is sixty-three days away. He knows that it's crazy to think he can get the ballet created and ready in that amount of time, especially once he realizes that new music must be commissioned, and the only available, aptly talented composer is the cantankerous Evana Arthur. She's so hard to work with he's almost glad he has only nine weeks The book structure counts down: nine weeks, eight weeks, etc., to opening night. Along with building the ballet and learning about prayer, Cal finally deals with the loss of his wife thirteen years earlier. Three dancers bring the Prayer ballet to life amidst trials of their own; for everyone involved, the new ballet transforms lives and reshapes the world.