How do people live in this world? is a question that seems to hover, alongside the Hollywood sign, over the neighbourhood of Los Feliz. Certainly Pete Ross wonders as much, his run as a successful chef, husband, and father having imploded so spectacularly as to land him back in the fraught care of his mother. Similarly, Alice Black's life - hinging as it does on a married boyfriend - is yet pending, and Helen Harland's ministry has thus far failed to enchant her new congregants. Meanwhile, at the retirement home down the street, Alice's aunt Kate lives in a world whose most vivid presence is her distinguished ancestor William James. Each of them, then, is trying to divine who or what is both missing and essential. They encounter one another - and several significant others besides - at Helen's midweek service, and amidst the quotidian tumult their particular desires gradually dovetail in a quest not just for romance and friendship but also for deeper meaning in what one of them calls ' the variety show of religious experience' .