Julian Ladd and Rye Adler cross paths as photography students in the Brodsky Workshop. As roommates, Julian believes he will never achieve Rye's certain success. Both are fascinated with their classmate Magda, whose captivating images of her Polish neighborhood set her apart. Twenty years later Rye is at the top of his field, famous for his photographs of celebrities and far removed from the downtrodden and disenfranchised subjects who'd secured his reputation. When Magda reenters his life, Rye finds himself in a broken landscape of street people and addicts, forcing him to reckon with the artist he once was. Months later, when Julian discovers Rye's obituary, the paper makes it sound like a suicide. At the funeral, Julian begins to question not only Rye's death, but the very foundations of his life. -- adapted from jacket.