Set in the summer of 1998 during the Clinton impeachment scandal the story is about Dr. Coleman Silk, a classics professor at a small New England college town. Silks life is shattered by accusations of racism and his personal life crumbles as more and more revelations are made. Nathan Zuckerman, a novelist, is intrigued by Silks story and investigates his life while Silk embroils himself in an affair with a woman half his age.