The novel begins by setting up a parallel between two characters who have difficulty accepting their reality. Although April and the Professor are generations apart in age, both are mired in past experiences that keep them from moving forward. The Professor is a mystery to everyone in the neighborhood. His behavior is that of someone who is detached from reality, and the reader doesn’t find out why until the book’s final pages. We learn that the Professor is living in the past because his wife’s untimely death has made the present too painful.

April is also unable to relate to anyone in her immediate surroundings, and has suffered a painful personal loss. After her glamorous mother’s abandonment, she resents having to live with her grandmother.

April and the Professor gravitate to each other rather quickly. Unlike every other child in the neighborhood, April finds the Professor intriguing and is drawn to A-Z Antiques. Aside from their shared loss of loved ones, both of them enjoy learning about the past. April tells the Professor that she wants to be an archaeologist when she grows up. Although the Professor doesn’t mock April’s aspirations, he barely engages with her, and April feels compelled to fill up his silence with meaningless words.