The Cliff in Mount Vernon

Straight out of the university, the unnamed narrator moves toward north to start his life in the township of Palette--the quiet suburban neighbor to the flashing Neubark City. Here he finds himself an apartment to settle in and befriends a forty-seven year old man who owns a record store. Falling head over heels with the enormity of his new world, little does he know that it will change him forever.

Four years forward, he suddenly realizes his derailment from the tracks he once anticipated to take. His comings and goings in the north has changed since then; the monochromatic, monotonous flow of his daily risings and settings consumes him brick by brick. He stays out of the circle, distant to the vivacious life of the natives. And then he meets someone he thinks would turn the things around. Caught up in a torrent of human affairs, emotions and frustrations, he seeks his saving grace through a mountain hike, where he finally confronts the crisis of his age: the odd, the strange and the absurd.