Cultural critic David Kepesh finds his life which he indicates is a state of emancipated manhood thrown into tragic disarray by Consuela Castillo, a well mannered student who awakens a sense of sexual possessiveness in her teacher


David Kepesh is growing old. He s a professor of literature, a student of American hedonism, and an amateur musician and photographer. When he finds a student attractive, Consuela, a 24 year old Cuban, he sets out to seduce her. Along the way, he swims in deeper feelings, maybe he s drowning. She presses him to sort out what he wants from her, and a relationship develops. They talk of traveling. He confides in his friend, George, a poet long married, who advises David to grow up and grow old. She invites him to meet her family. His own son, from a long ended marriage, confronts him. Is the elegy for lost relationships, lost possibilities, beauty and time passing, or failure of nerve?