“I’d like to propose a toast. To all of us, who, it turns out, are much more than we appear to be.”

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Synopsis

Professor Schuyler Salazar is perfectly content. He has a loving and obedient wife, a comfortable and expensively furnished home, and a respected appointment as chair of the Quantum Physics department at a renowned university. When he receives word that Pancho McGillicuddy, the most brilliant physicist in the world, is in town and wishes to meet him, this is the icing on the cake. Schuyler decides to throw a lavish dinner party in honor of his guest, and invites his closest friends and colleagues in hopes of impressing them with this illustrious acquaintance.

 

But as the party is underway and guests begin to arrive, we see that all is not well is Schuyler’s world after all. Unbeknownst to him, he is disliked by some of his colleagues for his arrogance and misogynistic attitudes, and is downright despised by his rival, Dempsey Calhoun, who is seeking any opportunity he can to sabotage Schuyler’s credibility. Throw in Dempsey’s wife, a devious and cunning movie star, a rebellious maid, and a bombastic Italian who speaks only three words of English, and Schuyler has his work cut out for him in attempting to impress McGillicuddy.

 

But both Schuyler’s and Dempsey’s plans go awry when McGillicuddy fails to show, and instead the party is visited by an enigmatic detective who comes and goes as he pleases, and always seems to know more than he lets on. As the detective hints at the mysterious and peculiar history of the guest of honor, the question at hand becomes not where is Professor McGillicuddy, but who is he? The answer is one that will turn out to change Schuyler’s life forever.