A successful screenwriter living in California finds his present reality fractured when the ghosts of his Irish past manifest to confront him with his unresolved history. Fergus Fadden attempts to navigate a new life defined by a promising career and a burgeoning romance with a younger woman, yet his progress is stalled by the weight of his previous marriage and familial obligations. The narrative employs a surreal, psychological framework where the protagonist is physically and mentally besieged by apparitions of his deceased father and other figures from his upbringing. These manifestations force Fergus to reconcile his current identity with the cultural and personal baggage he attempted to leave behind in Ireland.

This work is often analyzed for its departure from the author's more traditional realist narratives, favoring a surrealist approach to the internal life of its protagonist. The novel serves as a meditation on the inescapable nature of one's origins, even when separated by geography and professional success. Critics frequently note the stark contrast between the superficiality of the Hollywood setting and the visceral, haunting presence of the Irish past. The text functions as a complex study of a man caught between the desire for a clean slate and the reality of his own history.