At times, he recalls his sixteen-year-long relationship with Jim.ĭuring the school day, George comes into contact with a student, Kenny Potter, who shows interest in George and disregards conventional boundaries of student–professor discussion. George goes about his day putting his affairs in order and focusing on the beauty of isolated events, believing he is seeing things for the last time. George receives a phone call from his dearest friend, Charley, who projects lightheartedness despite her also being miserable. After awakening, George delivers a voiceover discussing the pain and depression he has endured since Jim's death and his intention to commit suicide that evening. George dreams that he encounters the body of his longtime partner, Jim, at the scene of the car accident that took Jim's life eight months earlier. On November 30, 1962, a month after the Cuban Missile Crisis, George Falconer is a middle-aged English college professor living in Los Angeles.