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Haunted by the memory of his successful father and desperate to escape his personal demons, a novelist seeks solace in a rural town--but, of course, no one can outrun their troubles for long, especially not in Melvile.
Samuel Beauclair's life has hit the skids. He's late with his second novel, he's going through a rough patch with his pregnant wife, and the bank is foreclosing on his apartment. Desperate, he flees to Melvile, an idyllic small town in the middle of nowhere where he once spent vacations with his novelist father.
After spending most of his days drinking, smoking, and staring at a blank page, Sam eventually takes a job as a handyman for a pair of siblings in town, David and Rachel. Sam paints their house each day and, slowly, the trio become friends, with Sam beginning to shed some of his troubles and come out of his shell over the course of their conversations. But is it a true fresh start, or just a willful denial of reality? And will Sam ever be able to escape his father's long shadow, or will his past mistakes finally catch up with him?