The novel concerns a college professor's attempt to write a reminiscence of the Presidential administration of Gerald Ford while being distracted by events in his personal and professional life.

Alf Clayton, a struggling history professor at Wayward Junior College in New Hampshire, receives a request from the Northern New England Association of American Historians (NNEAAH) to provide his memories and impressions of the Presidential administration of Gerald Ford.

[1][2] The New York Times Book Review described the novel as "quintessential Updike, an exploration of a modern American terrain of desire, guilt and moral ambiguity that he has made distinctly his own.

"[2] Updike uses Clayton and his rival professor Brent Mueller, an ardent deconstructionist, to comment on deconstruction and sexual politics.

While Clayton hates Mueller for his adherence to deconstruction, he nonetheless finds himself utilizing the theory to justify his interest in a comparatively obscure president and assuage his guilt over the affair with Mueller's wife Geraldine.