Sixty-two-year-old Walter Vale is sleeping through his life. Havinglost his passion for teaching and writing, he fills the void by unsuccessfully trying to learn classical piano. When his college sends him to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek, a Syrian man, and Zainab, his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go. In the first of series of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him.