A hunter discovers a woman's body hanging from a tree, her red sash ensuring she would be found.

Bobby Western and his colleague Oiler dive to investigate an underwater plane wreck in the Gulf of Mexico.

Two men with badges visit Bobby at his apartment and suggest that a passenger is missing from the crashed plane.

John Sheddan tells a woman named Bianca that Bobby is in love with his sister Alicia.

Bobby returns home to find his apartment ransacked by unknown intruders and immediately packs his belongings and leaves.

Bobby receives word that his diving colleague Oiler has died on a job and suspects he was murdered.

Bobby visits a cathedral and recalls his father's friendship with Oppenheimer and the devastation caused by the atomic bombs.

Following his paternal grandmother's death, Bobby excavates her former home and uncovers a large stash of hidden gold coins.

Bobby is flown alone to an oil rig in the Gulf and grows paranoid that he has been set up to be killed.

Government agents impound Bobby's Maserati and freeze his bank account, leaving him nearly broke.

Private investigator Kline advises Bobby to flee and offers to help him create a false identity.

The Thalidomide Kid visits Bobby on a Louisiana beach during a storm, and Bobby's fury finally drives The Kid away.

Bobby travels to Stella Maris psychiatric hospital and a nurse gives him a package Alicia had originally sent him.

Bobby learns that John Sheddan has died and reads a final letter Sheddan wrote to him before his death.

Bobby lives in an old millhouse in Ibiza, writing letters to his deceased sister and imagining reuniting with her after death.

The novel opens with the discovery of a woman's body in the woods before introducing Bobby Western, a salvage diver whose investigation of a mysterious plane wreck draws federal attention. Two government agents interrogate Bobby about a missing passenger, launching a pursuit that forces him underground and costs him his livelihood and possessions. As Bobby goes on the run, he loses his closest companions, including his diving partner Oiler and the eccentric intellectual John Sheddan. Along the way, Bobby is haunted by his father's catastrophic scientific legacy and by the memory of his brilliant, deceased sister Alicia. Private investigator Kline helps Bobby plan an escape but offers no real answers about why he is being hunted. The novel ends with Bobby exiled on a Mediterranean island, writing letters to a dead sister and finding his only consolation in the hope of seeing her again after his own death.

Bobby Western's flight from mysterious pursuers and unresolved grief.

Bobby and Oiler discuss Oiler's experiences in the Vietnam War and the strange details of the plane crash at a bar.

Young Alicia encounters The Thalidomide Kid for the first time in her bedroom at the onset of puberty.

Bobby borrows a boat and searches the coastal area near the crash site, discovering footprints and drag marks in the sand.

Debussy Fields tells Bobby the story of her gender transition and the family rejection that followed.

The Kid returns to Alicia after a long winter absence and conducts another audition of hallucinated performers.

Bobby dives into a river with near-zero visibility to attach a cable system to a sunken barge.

Debussy calls Bobby to warn him that she dreamed he was about to die, urging him to be careful.

Alicia elects to undergo electric shock therapy and wakes to find The Kid and his gang covered in ash and soot.

Bobby tells his acquaintance Asher about his father's connections to Einstein and Oppenheimer and his own decision to abandon physics.

Bobby visits his maternal grandmother Granellen in Tennessee and they discuss faith, Alicia's death, and the meaning of life.

Bobby retrieves Alicia's letters, reads them, and hides them behind his bathroom vanity mirror to protect them from intruders.

Bobby visits his friend Borman, who is living in deliberate squalor in a swampy rural area near Lafayette.

Federal agents show Bobby a set of photographs and ask if he recognizes anyone, including a picture of his father.

Bobby shelters alone in a rundown Idaho farmhouse through the winter, consumed by thoughts of Alicia.

Bobby pours his own champagne at Arnaud's restaurant as a personal tribute to the recently deceased John Sheddan.

From the very start, Bobby's life is populated by a cast of friends and acquaintances whose stories illuminate his own struggles. His diving partner Oiler shares harrowing Vietnam War memories, while Debussy Fields opens up about her gender transition and her search for spiritual meaning. Alicia's storyline, running parallel to Bobby's, shows the first emergence of her hallucinations at puberty and her painful attempts to manage schizophrenia, including a dramatic session of electric shock therapy. Bobby's philosophical discussions with his acquaintance Asher and his visit to his grandmother Granellen offer competing frameworks for making sense of suffering and existence. As the government closes in, Bobby hides Alicia's letters, visits his deteriorating friend Borman, and is shaken when agents show him photographs that include his own father. The pool ends with Bobby honoring the dead Sheddan with a solitary glass of champagne before the novel reaches its final reckoning.

The supporting relationships and hidden details that shape Bobby's world.

Alicia and The Thalidomide Kid discuss her plans to die by suicide while she is confined to a psychiatric hospital.

Bobby stops at a bar and learns that his friend John Sheddan is facing charges for illegally selling prescription drugs.

The Kid reads passages from Alicia's private diary aloud, revealing her philosophical genius and innermost thoughts to her.

Young Alicia is awakened in the night by an ominous beast-like figure on her windowsill and whispers her brother's name.

The Kid accuses Alicia of harboring incestual feelings for Bobby and implies Bobby has kept her isolated for his own reasons.

Bobby recalls spending Alicia's eighteenth birthday with her in Mexico City, one of their last shared moments of joy.

Alicia discards her prescribed anti-psychotic medication after taking it for only a couple of days over concerns about side effects.

The Kid uses an old film projector to show Alicia grainy footage of her distant relatives and her own family history.

Coworkers warn Bobby not to take the oil rig diving job, but he ignores their advice and accepts it anyway.

Kline tells Bobby that the government considers him effectively already under arrest, making his situation far more urgent.

Bobby moves into an isolated shack on the Bay of St. Louis and is reduced to eating roadkill to survive.

Bobby returns to New Orleans from Idaho and discovers that federal agents have been visiting the bar regularly looking for him.

Alicia is visited by a compassionate hallucination named Miss Vivian, who speaks at length about crying babies and human suffering.

Bobby asks Debussy to read Alicia's final letter and report only specific details, and Debussy weeps while reading it aloud.

Bobby refuses a letter that arrived from Akron, telling his neighbor João that he no longer knows anyone in America.

The novel's most pivotal moments begin with Alicia contemplating suicide in a psychiatric ward while The Kid works to dissuade her. Crucial revelations emerge gradually: The Kid reads from Alicia's private diary to expose her inner world, and later makes shocking accusations about the nature of her feelings for Bobby. Alicia's own choices accelerate her decline, from discarding her medication to the illness claiming ever more of her inner life, while The Kid screens footage of her family history that forces her to confront who she is. Bobby, meanwhile, faces his own escalating crisis, ignoring warnings about dangerous work, learning he is effectively already under arrest, and retreating to an isolated shack with almost nothing. Alicia's final scene with the hallucination Miss Vivian frames her impending death in philosophical terms, debating the nature of suffering at the very threshold of her end. The pool closes with Bobby in Ibiza, severing his last ties to America by refusing a letter from home.