As a young man, Arnold Berman's grandfather exposed him to the greats of Yiddish literature. He was most captivated by one writer, Zalman Belzner. After the death of his grandfather, Arnold attends Yale, studies literature, and begins to work at Time Magazine in 1960's New York City. One day, he attends a reading of Belzner's and becomes the acquaintance of Zalman and his wife, Gerda. Gerda contacts Arnold, asking him to put Zalman on the cover of Time, something Arnold doesn't have the pull to do given his low ranking. Undeterred, Gerda asks Arnold to correct her translation of Zalman's latest work, Beyond the Pale. Arnold realizes that Gerda's translation is unsalvagable and begins his own translation. Upon presenting it to Zalman, the writer is grateful but asks that Arnold allow Gerda to receive a co-credit on the translation. Out of charity, Arnold agrees. Months later, Gerda calls Arnold and asks him to drive Zalman down to Florida in the middle of the night; the writer has apparently come down with an illness. Arnold refuses because he cannot abandon work, his wife, or his child. This angers Gerda, and she prevents Arnold from attending Zalman's funeral soon after. Despite their disagreement, Gerda meets with Arnold months later and asks him to translate all of Zalman's work into English. Arnold agrees to think about it but knows that he must reject the offer: he has another child on the way and wants to pursue his own literary endeavors. However, during his wife's 20-hour labor, Arnold reads another of Zalman's novels and realizes he cannot turn the job down. After accepting Gerda's offer, she attends his son, Zacharia's, baby shower. She departs quickly, ostensibly leaving to do something else that will help secure Zalman's legacy.