The good psychologist teaches the principles of control and objectivity, strategies by which we evade pain, memory and lies. Meanwhile in the Center for Anxiety Disorders he dispenses wisdom, and coaxes truth from one patient in particular: a vulnerable, frightened nightclub dancer whose life is haunted by secrets.

But as he treats and guides and teaches, the good psychologist becomes increasingly disturbed by his own private torments: unrequited love, an unacknowledged child, growing loneliness and despair. Soon he is adrift as, softly, he leads the reader into the dangerous yet seductive territory of the human heart.