Timothy Warner, a PhD student who goes by the nickname Moth, wakes up on his ninety-ninth day of sobriety with an intense craving for drink. He immediately calls his uncle Ed, a former alcoholic and now successful psychiatrist who has become Moth's mentor and father figure. Ed promises to meet him at an AA meeting later that day but never shows up. Moth bikes to his office only to discover a grisly scene--his uncle lying in a pool of blood, shot through the temple.