Kay Pigeon, a reporter for a Wall Street trade paper, struggles with print journalism's transition to digital content at a publication on the verge of folding. That provides a link between defining experiences of two generations as portrayed in the book. Kay's estranged daughter is struggling with her student loan, which Kay co-signed, while her editor is struggling with an Alzheimer's diagnosis. The time is 2011, the place is New York.
Kay takes over the loan payments which aren't being applied to the right loan and she can't find out why as it goes further into arrears. She is hounded by the loan servicer until a call center rep tips her off to skullduggery at the call center.
Her daughter's student loan represents one kind of debt. The debt she owes her editor, whose demise is unexpected, amounts to a different kind and is one she can't repay.
Readers take a trip through Millennial debt, Atlantic City casino gambling, the impact of social media on journalism and gender conflict in the workplace. In the end, the book finds its way back to the student loan as it slides into default. Kay's in a growing demographic that will be repaying student loans--their own or ones they co-signed for their kids--when they enter retirement.