After an unusual encounter in a San Francisco art gallery, a vacationing garage mechanic offers a local investment banker a mysterious invitation:  submit to me for 40 hours, and I will restore your kingship, help you become the man you were always meant to be.

Over one weekend in October, 1999, the banker endures exhausting physical, mental, and emotional challenges (a sleepover on Alcatraz, “bear walking” through a homeless shelter, and kidnapping a baby duck), trials which gradually bruise free his stunted heart.

In the astonishing climax, the banker is abandoned on a mountain top at midnight, and uses his newfound kingship to transform his devestating grief into primal, radiant love.