August 30, 1975: the day fifteen-year-old Nola Kellergan is glimpsed fleeing through the woods, never to be heard from again, the day Somerset lost its innocence. Thirty-three years later, Marcus Goldman, a successful young novelist, visits Somerset to see his mentor, Quebert, one of the country's most respected writers, and to find a cure for his writer's block as his publisher's deadline looms.