The narrator of The Zahir is a bestselling novelist who lives in France and enjoys all the privileges his money and celebrity bring. His wife of ten years, Esther, is a war correspondent who has disappeared along with a friend, Mikhail, who may or may not be her lover. Was Esther kidnapped, murdered, or did she simply escape a marriage that left her unfulfilled? The narrator doesn't have any answers but he has plenty of questions of his own, though he doesn't know where to start looking for Esther, or if, in fact, he even wants her back. Then, one day, Mikhail finds the abandoned husband and promises to reunite him with his wife. And in his attempt to recapture a lost love, the narrator will discover something unexpected about himself.