In Bloomington, Indiana, Fanton Drummond's life changes when he encounters Olenka Danton in an elevator. Infatuated at first sight, Fanton begins to see Olenka everywhere, from bus stops and parks to the imagined settings of his mind's eye. Soon they begin an affair, and Fanton steps deeper into Olenka's mysterious world. But one day, Olenka vanishes. Fanton's subsequent search for Olenka becomes an existential journey filled with tragicomic twists and introspective musings on the meaning of life, all through which Fanton realizes that he knows little about Olenka, and even less about himself.