Peter Silver is a young doctor treading water in the wake of a breakup a-man whose girlfriend called him a mama's boy and whose best friend considers him a homebody, a squanderer of adventure. But when he receives an unexpected request for a house call, he obliges, only to discover that his new patient is the aging, chameleonic rock star Jimmy Cross. Soon Peter is compelled to join the mysteriously Ailing celebrity, his band, and his entourage as they travel from state to state. On the road the supposed first physician embedded in a rock tour is thrust into a way of life that embraces disorder and risk rather than order and discipline. Trailing the band at every tour stop is Arthur Pennyman, Cross's number-one fan. Pennyman has not missed a performance in twenty years, sacrificing his family and job to chronicle every show on his website. Cross insists that being a fan is how we teach ourselves to love, and, in the end, Pennyman does learn. And when he hears a mythic, as-yet-unperformed song, he starts to piece together the puzzle of Peter's role in Cross's past.