Ashin Asilomar is a retired dentist, living in the same California town where he was raised, practiced, married, and widowed. A troubled young family moves in next door, and he befriends their 12-year-old son. Together, they watch as outsiders continue to move in, calling the town perfect just as it is, and then working so very hard to transform Paris into the place they recently escaped. It begins with fences, signs, and dog leashes, but progresses to hostility, absurdity, and then madness. Paris, California tells a tale familiar to those who have watched their community transformed by newcomers—people who move in and change the very characteristics that attracted them there in the first place—and what happens when things go completely off the rails.