The novel begins with the narrator, Julius, discussing how he began going on walks around the boroughs of New York City during the last year of his psychiatry fellowship. This new routine has, at least for the time being, replaced his former interests in bird watching, listening to classical radio shows from other countries, and reading aloud.

Initially, Julius is overwhelmed by the density of people in the city. One night, he tries to understand the different boroughs by walking around in them. Walking comforts him because it is unlike the work for his fellowship—a “clinical study of affective disorders in the elderly” (7).

On a Sunday morning, he finds his walk interrupted by crowds gathered for the New York Marathon. He tries to avoid them by going into stores in the Upper West Side, then by visiting a former professor named Saito, who lives in an apartment on Central Park South. Saito taught English literature at the fictional Maxwell College, where Julius was a student. While Julius did not excel in his class, he did become friends with Saito. The professor developed prostate cancer and stopped going to campus.

Julius notes the art in Saito’s apartment as he enters for his visit.