Near the end of the twenty-first century, an old woman in Cornwall rescues a nude young man from the ocean, somehow dragging him from the beach to her well-appointed house She is a world-famous violinist, who, despite having taken full advantage of life-prolonging therapeutics, knows death is near He is obviously educated but lacks all personal knowledge She calls him Adam It suits her needs to reminisce and his to listen Her remembrances are punctuated by daily life with Adam until she has told him all