Penelope, a writer passing a dreary middle age, struggles to start her new novel. She lands an invitation to a conference that hosts a speaker who she once loved-until he suddenly disappeared from her life, unannounced, decades ago. Deeming it impossible to avoid reliving the pain, anger, and mourning that followed her abandonment years ago, Penelope devises a way to channel the surge of emotional tumult through the protagonist of her new story, Julie, herself a writer romantically disposed unlike present-day Penelope. Julie's stories feature a lovesick Henry, whose removal from reality leads to tales that are so consumed by passion that they cannot survive. But the fervor with which the story wants to express itself makes it rise from the ashes and follow henry in his journey to redeem his love. Henry's flamboyant quests for his beloved Echo, the trophy wife of a lecherous overlord, stand to shape Penelope's own bearing leading up to her impending reunion with her old lover.