For him, everything is always the present: In 1965, young neuroscientist Margot meets the charismatic patient Eli at the University of Darven Park. He suffers from memory loss and can only remember things that happened no more than seventy seconds ago. Margot begins to investigate Eli's memory with a series of tests and, over time, becomes remarkably close to the unusual patient. An impossible relationship, as he keeps forgetting who she is. Joyce Carol Oates has written a novel about love and memory, about loneliness and imagined closeness - lucid, sensitive, and sparkling.