The story revolves around Kevin Jareš, a successful fantasy novelist. He, although at first glance it may seem that he lacks nothing in fame and fortune, is going through a mid-life crisis, dealing with problems with his partner and a greedy agent. So he decides to take the radical step of writing his last book, in which he lets the fan-favorite central character of his fantasy series, Barbara Erdan, die. But it soon becomes clear that getting rid of Erdan won't be so easy.