Tristan Wishnasky seems to have it all: a successful career as a cynical novelist in love with the Void, a romantic relationship with a formidable woman, and admission to the parties and revelries of the glitterati. But just when he's confident nothing can stop his stupendous rise, he begins to hallucinate mysterious messages telling him he's wasting his life.

When the messages don't stop, he turns to his atheist lover, his oracular psychotherapist, and an ingenious female rabbi for guidance and direction. Where has he gone wrong? How should he be living?

In his search for self-knowledge, Tristan lurches from the art galleries of the famous to the homeless shelters of the abandoned; from the arms of college dean Vanessa to the bed of struggling actress Barbara; from a career that ignores every claim beyond ego to the company of people trying to rescue the imperiled Earth.

As he learns to destroy every false image that's ever laid claim to him, he begins to think possible a life that deeply, truly matters.