Summary

The novel opens at the Newark Airport. It is the morning, on June 12, 2013. A family is in the security line. The father is a math professor named Bruce Adler. His wife, Jane Adler, is a TV writer. They have two sons: 15-year-old Jordan and 12-year-old Edward (who goes by Eddie for short.) At the security line, Jordan decides to opt for a pat-down rather than go through the backscatter scanner, as he believes the scanner is demeaning and produces harmful radiation. Bruce is simultaneously irritated by Jordan’s stubbornness and proud that Jordan is confident and opinionated. The Adlers are moving from New York to Los Angeles because Jane received a lucrative job offer, and Bruce failed to receive tenure at Columbia University. Another woman in the security line is Linda Stollen, who is 25 years old. There is an elderly, wheelchair-bound man named Crispin...