novelwise describes the disintegration of six wisemen (a champion of meaninglessness, a reborn nihilist, an impractical playwright, an ex-con praegustic, a senile cuckold and a philosophically inclined Taoist) and their eight-ear-old apprentice, as they embrace the absurd with unreserved affection, lose sight of their lofty goals, succumb to preoccupations with their own weaknesses and vices, before finally arriving at an understanding of wisdom through the unlikely process of elimination.