In the first chapter Jim Qwilleran wakes up in a hospital with no idea who he is. He has a terrible headache. Various people
come in and talk to him, but he doesn’t recognize any of them, including the attractive female doctor who flirts with him. He gets teased a lot about having to buy a new bicycle.
A man named Arch Riker shows up and claims to be his friend. The two men have a conversation starting with their
time together as children. The longer they talk the more Qwill remembers. By the time Arch leaves Qwill feels like his old self.
After Arch leaves Qwill gets some shut-eye and has a very vivid dream about his friend and housekeeper, Mrs. Cobb. He calls his new home, the Klingenschoen Mansion, and Mrs. Cobb confirms his suspicion that the dream was actually a memory. He speaks with Koko and encourages the Siamese to eat his food and look after Yum Yum. Later he has another dream about Junior Goodwinter picking him up as he staggered along the road after the accident. He calls Junior and the young man confirms that he did find Qwill on the road and helped him, as he did in the dream. In a third dream Qwill remembers riding the old bicycle he’d found in the Klingenschoen garage on a lonely, isolated road, and seeing the rusty grill of an old truck rushing toward him as the driver swerved into Qwill’s lane and speeded up. There’s no one Qwill can call this time, but he knows this memory is no dream. Someone tried to kill him, and nearly succeeded.
After Qwill’s recollection of the accident and his realization that someone tried to kill him, the story goes back to the events leading up to the accident, starting with Qwill finishing up his business down below and resigning from the Daily Fluxion before returning to his late Aunt Fanny’s cabin and moving into the Klingenschoen Mansion in Pickax.
Koko and Yum Yum never enjoy the transition of moving, but they settle in quickly and enjoy their new home. Many
letters are written to Qwill and are delivered through a mail slot then land directly on the floor. Koko and Yum Yum enjoy playing with the piles of letters. Yum Yum loves to hide the letters under one of the rugs. Koko selects specific letter and brings them to Qwill. Koko also sniffs out clues that help Qwill find some answers about a maid who left Aunt Fanny’s employ years earlier under mysterious circumstances. Koko even picks out a few notes on the piano that help point Qwill in the right direction.
The closer Qwill gets to the truth the more desperate certain people grow to stop him. Two women who know part of the truth are killed before Qwill is run off the run by the truck with the rusty grill.
When Qwill gets home from the hospital Koko seems upset with him, and there is tension between the two. Qwill finally realizes what Koko has been trying to communicate, and the two get back on the same wave-length. They manage to foil a second attempt on Qwill’s life and catch a murderer.