Suddenly confronted with his own mortality after a routine checkup, eminent psychotherapist julius hertzfeld is forced to reexamine his life and work -- and seeks out philip slate, a sex addict whom he failed to help som...Suddenly confronted with his own mortality after a routine checkup, eminent psychotherapist julius hertzfeld is forced to reexamine his life and work -- and seeks out philip slate, a sex addict whom he failed to help some twenty years earlier. Yet philip claims to be cured -- miraculously transformed by the pessimistic teachings of German philosopher arthur schopenhauer -- and is, himself, a philosophical counselor in training.