When archivist Nadia Fontaine is found dead of an apparent drowning, Emily Snow is hired by Regents University to finish the job she started-to organize and process the papers of Raymond West, a famous Pulitzer Prize—winning author who has been short-listed for the Nobel. Emily's job comes with its inherent pressures. West's wife, Elizabeth, is an heiress who's about to donate $25 million to the Memorial Library-an eight-story architectural marvel...

Miles is a divorced man and a failed writer who teaches junior high English. He decides to take his best friend, somewhat famous actor Jack, on a weeklong drive through California's wine country. There they explore their failures and question their relationships.

Jack and Miles were college roommates, and despite their differences, they have been friends ever since. Jack is an actor, whose career high point is a stint as a soap opera regular. English teacher and oenophile Miles would much rather be a published novelist. Jack is about to get married, so depressed, divorced Miles suggests they hit the road for a week-long bachelor party amidst the rolling hillsides and gorgeous sunsets of wine country near Santa...