Expecting to cover zoning meetings and school plays, Paul Tomm signs on as a cub reporter with a small-town paper near his Connecticut alma mater. When Jaan Puhapaev, a professor doing his research on the ancient art of alchemy, dies under suspicious circumstances, Paul is called back to the campus to write an obituary. But Puhapaev had no family or friends, and the only person who seems to have known anything about him is the beautiful next-door...