A middle-aged New York editor becomes entranced by a young female writer whose work he rejects. As they meet more and more frequently for coffee, the editor endlessly analyzes whether or not the young woman shares his interest in becoming more than friends.

When the child of a young couple goes missing, the police and the townspeople blame the child's mother and wonder if she could even be at fault for the disappearance. A series of new and old discoveries plants seeds of doubt in the father's mind such that, even after his daughter is found, he worries his daughter isn't safe around his wife.