In this novel, Louis Begley tells the story of a life crisis and its overcoming through love. His protagonist is Albert Schmidt, a recently retired, once highly respected New York lawyer, a Don Juan with rigid principles, for whom retirement gradually becomes a nightmare: six months after the death of his wife, his daughter Charlotte informs him that she is going to marry none other than Jon Riker - the ambitious, greedy lawyer and Schmidt's firm colleague, to whom he owes, among other things, the reduction of his pension. Schmidt opposes the marriage, only accelerating the distance growing between him and his daughter. Eventually, Charlotte demands her inheritance in advance. Begley accompanies Schmidt on his path to loneliness and bitterness in this book marked by enchanting lightness.