Paul Brawley, a gifted PhD candidate at Yale University, has just moved into an apartment with his pragmatic girlfriend Jen and is struggling to complete his dissertation before he embarks on his career in academia. There's just one snag: as Paul is unpacking his belongings, he discovers that something has been left behind: a seemingly inconsequential object, but one Paul feels is of great importance to his dissertation and therefore to his future: a battered, personally-annotated hardcover copy of 'Little Dorrit' by Charles Dickens. He needs to retrieve it from his former roommate, the obstinate Nancy. As he becomes increasingly consumed with the retrieval of 'Little Dorrit', Paul's relationship and career unravel.