George Falconer, a middle-aged English teacher, struggles to overcome the sudden death of his partner, Jim, in a car accident. The year is 1962, and despite the privileged life that she leads in Los Angeles, her routine has become a painful reminder of the only thing that allowed her to endure the oppressive "American dream": the loving intimacy in which she could behave spontaneously and free yourself from the disguises that society imposes on you. But in addition, the loss abruptly confronts George with his age, with the passage of time, with his past and, ultimately, with the horizon of his own death. A Single Man is one of Isherwood's most acclaimed novels, which he regarded as his masterpiece, an original and extraordinary elaboration of the drama of existence in the contemporary world.