The unrecognized artist Gabby Segul inherits her uncle's diaries and tries to decide if he was the schizophrenic he appeared to be or a mysterious hidden wiseman. Written in her diary, with excerpts from her uncle's, as well as unintentionally humorous and sad letters from the fan magazines she works on at her day job, the novel is a modern take on the epistolary--Miss Lonelyhearts meets Soap Opera Digest. It explores myth, dream, and humor in what Thomas Mallon called "interlockings" that are "poignant, desperate, and sometimes very funny." The frame story has Gabby's diary in turn inherited by her niece, who works to publish it and gain Gabby the recognition that is her due.