The central character and primary narrator of the novel is WWII vet John Henry Shields. Confined to a VA hospital in 1984, he spends his final days reflecting on a multitude of events from his life. Although these recollections of his experiences range from those clearly momentous to those apparently paltry, the foremost theme of the novel evolves from both samples. Examining the choices he has made, some of which please him, while others fill him with regret, he tries to determined if he has succeeded in living a "true life." He has concluded that in order to live this "true life, we humans must be willing to both accept and embrace the truth about the human condition.