The son, grandson, and great-grandson of great lawyers, Gabe is intent on making his mark by writing a book to escape from poverty as a twenty-one-year-old holder of a Harvard degree in history. While recovering in the hospital after being hit by a truck, Gabe latches onto entering a writing contest that comes with a $50,000 prize. He weighs his odds. Who else is going to write about Dick Nixon meeting his future wife, Pat Ryan, in a California church basement auditioning for a play? With the love of his life, Arlene, Gabe researches the young lawyer Nixon and Ryan, a high school teacher. As the stories emerge, coincidences abound. Juxtaposed between present-day Cambridge, Massachusetts, and 1938 Whittier, California, Nixon in Love shares a fictional story featuring Gabe and Arlene and Dick and Pat. Twists and spins of the paranormal generate a dizzying kaleidoscope of love stories on both coasts.