When renowned translator Hanne Schubert falls down a flight of stairs, she suffers from an unusual but real condition - the loss of her native language. Speaking only Japanese, a language learned later in life, she leaves for Japan. There, to Hanne's shock, the Japanese novelist whose work she recently translated confronts her publicly for sabotaging his work.

Reeling, Hanne seeks out the inspiration for the author's novel - a tortured, chimerical actor, once a master in the art of Noh theater. Through their passionate, volatile relationship, Hanne is forced to reexamine how she has lived her life, including her estranged relationship with her daughter. In elegant and understated prose, Nina Schuyler offers a deeply moving and mesmerizing story about language, love, and the transcendence of family.