Alice Howland está orgullosa de la vida que tanto esfuerzo le ha costado construir. A los cincuenta, es profesora de psicología cognitiva en Harvard y una experta lingüista de fama mundial, con un marido exitoso y tres hijos adultos. Cuando empieza a sentirse desorientada y olvidadiza, un trágico diagnóstico cambia su vida, al tiempo que la relación con su familia y con el mundo, para siempre.

Fifty-year-old Alice Howland, a Harvard professor of cognitive psychology, is at the top of her game. Her kids are grown, her marriage secure, her career on fire, when after mere months of forgetfulness she finds herself in the rapidly downward spiral of early onset Alzheimer's disease. With no cure or treatment, Alice struggles to find meaning and purpose in her everyday life as her concept of self slips away. Without memory or hope, she is forced to live in the moment, which is in turns beautiful, terrifying, and maddening.