As an old-fashioned college English instructor, Frank Middleston loves the traditional classics of literature and considers the current boom of paranormal Young Adult fiction to be a travesty of the written word. With his 50th birthday looming, however, Frank has failed to achieve anything but literary rejection with his own years of writing. When Cole Harper, a young and immediately popular adjunct at the college, strikes a record-shattering deal for his new YA novel, Frank is pushed to his wits' end to endure the celebrity accolades that immediately surround Cole.

Initially blinded to the changes he himself is suddenly experiencing — sensitivity to bright lights, loss of appetite for traditional food, increased strength — Frank soon discovers that he is becoming the very thing he hates the most.

And Cole is responsible.