When children's book author Mort Lear dies accidentally at his Connecticut home, he leaves his property and all its contents to his trusted assistant, Tomasina Daulair. She is moved by his generosity but dismayed by the complicated and defiant directives in his will. She had been witness not just to his daily routines but to the emotional fallout of his strange boyhood and his volatile relationship with a lover who died of AIDS. Nicholas Greene has been cast to play Lear in a movie. As he and Tommy look more closely at Morty's past they face upheavals in their wider relationships, their careers, and even their search for love.