With his days winding down, an aging gunman sets out on an epic quest to perform one last good deed, hoping to save his soul.

These eleven stories by Joshua Ferris, many of which were first published in The New Yorker, are at once thrilling, strange, and comic. The modern tribulations of marriage, ambition, and the fear of missing out as the temptations flow like wine and the minutes of life tick down are explored with the characteristic wit and insight that have made Ferris one of our most critically acclaimed novelists.

Christopher Flynn is trying to get it right. After years of trouble and rebellion that enraged his father and nearly cost him his life, he has a steady job in his father's company, he's seriously dating a woman he respects, and, aside from the distrust that lingers in his father's eyes, his mistakes are firmly in the past. One day on the job, Chris and his partner come across a temptation almost too big to resist. Chris does the right thing, but...

"When Ibby Bell's father dies in a tragic accident in the summer of 1964, her mother unceremoniously deposits Ibby with her eccentric grandmother, Fannie, and throws in her father's urn for good measure. Fannie's Victorian house is like no place Ibby has ever been--and Fannie, who has a tendency to end up in the local asylum every once in a while--is like no one she has ever met. Fortunately, her black cook, Queenie ... and Queenie's feisty daughter...

This story, based on the Cubs and Mets 1973 season follows the divergent paths of Joe Castle, a rookie hitter for the Chicago Cubs and Warren Tracey, a hard-throwing Mets pitcher.

Harry Crane is an analyst for the US Forest Service, until his wife dies suddenly and he is unable to cope. Leaving his job and his old life behind, Harry makes his way to the remote woods of northeastern Pennsylvania's Endless Mountains. Determined to lose himself, he takes up residents in the woods. Oriana and her mother, Amanda, are struggling to pick up the pieces from their own tragedy. Oriana roams the forest searching for answers, and she believes...

"What Happened to the McCrays? is the story of a man and a woman who need to heal, and the middle school hockey team that might help them get there. When Kyle McCray gets word his father has suffered a debilitating stroke he returns to his hometown of Potsdam, New York, even though he expects to see few friendly faces there. Kyle left Potsdam suddenly two and a half years earlier, bailing on people who depended on him: his father, his employees, his...