Zhanna-a grammarian, compulsive spellchecker, and young copy editor-simmers when her expert redlines are questioned. As her agitation grows, she begins making editorial corrections outside the publishing house. On a lunch break, she confronts the cashier about quotation marks indicating "free" coffee and finally abolishes them from the chalkboard herself. She broods about careless writing and the death of language. Sometimes she feels like a dangling modifier. Clearly, she needs a break. Confessions of the Editor Brigand chronicles Zhanna's obsession. For six weeks, she travels from one town to the next, visiting her close-knit group of girlfriends but soon discovering that even a good vacation needs an editor. Clad in black, Zhanna becomes the ultimate grammar guardian, the Editor Brigand, scouring the streets for misspellings and bad grammar. When a friend suggests the dating website, Assisted Kismet, as a distraction, Zhanna combs it for someone whose profile isn't ridden with misspellings, or just ludicrous.
In the end, Zhanna's enthusiastic love of language brings her friends closer together, and she finally realizes, though love and billboards may be imperfect, you have to find the balance between demanding excellence and risking your life to create it.