Joshua, Professor Grimes’s senior assistant, quits abruptly, leaving projects unfinished as Grimes rushes toward a conference deadline. Alice and Peter are drafted to fill the gap, working unpaid late nights that become a crucible for connection. Through shared problem-solving, jokes, and discovery, Alice experiences a new kind of love grounded in intellectual intimacy and mutual attention.

They trade quirks and observations—his humming and late-night manic bursts, her chalky forehead streaks and sleep-lies—argue about puzzles and theory, and build an in-joke shorthand that makes them feel uniquely paired. Laughter and companionable silence convince Alice she has found someone who moves at her frequency.

When the term ends and Grimes’s presentation succeeds, the work stops and Peter abruptly withdraws. Alice searches for him around campus, receives only polite distance, and leaves a note asking to talk; he never replies. Gossip and humiliation follow. She recalls going to Venice, where she learns she cannot refuse Grimes, and after returning everything deteriorates; for a year she lowers her gaze when passing Peter.

That summer, reading Parfit’s Reasons and Persons, Alice adopts a reductionist view of identity. She concludes their intimacy belonged to different versions of themselves and that people can change enough to become strangers. This rationalization helps her explain Peter’s retreat and her own inability to reclaim what was lost.