Seven years after the events of Henry Fool, Fay Grim  is coerced by a CIA agent  to try to locate 'the confession novel' notebooks that belonged to her fugitive husband  whom he believes to be deceased. Fay is launched into a world of espionage as she travels to Paris to retrieve some of the journals, each having mysteriously appeared in the hands of the most unlikely of people. Simon Grim, Fay's brother and nobel-prize winning poet because of Henry, remains home with his sister's son, the CIA and his publisher. Even in death it seems Henry is a force of nature causing life changing ructions in the lives of those he has touched. Fay is surrounded by competing agents all vying for her help in retrieving notebooks as she and Simon start getting clues to what the publishable nonsense of The Confession is really all about and why the CIA believe they contain information that could compromise U.S. security. A former air-hostess befriends Fay and reveals she was similarly touched by Henry 's chaotic influence and aid her in her efforts. Fay's whirlwind culminates in a meeting with a notorious terrorist and friend of Henry in a tense meeting where she has to make the biggest decision of her life.