Tom McCarthy

Walter Vale is a widower who teaches economics at a Connecticut university. He lives alone and is no longer motivated by his work. In New York to present a paper at a conference, he goes to the apartment that he has not visited in some time, but has kept since his wife was alive, only to discover a young couple living there. Despite their great cultural differences, Walter befriends Tarek, a Syrian citizen and drummer, and gradually builds a friendship...

A young man inherits a train station in rural New Jersey and moves there for a life of quiet solitude. He soon finds friendships and a sense of belonging that he never expected, and never thought he wanted.