Ned Bachus's novel is about Sarah Goins, a college professor with a thriving career and close-knit academic community who is eager to draw her boyfriend, Mike Flannagan, deeper into her world. But Mike, a groundskeeper at a local seminary, resists, instead keeping her at arm's length as he struggles to come to terms with a past haunted by loss. Late one night, Mike crosses paths with Domenic Gallo, a neighborhood barber who has been injured in a mugging. As Mike helps the elderly man, Domenic tends to his own painful history, and the two strike up an unlikely friendship built around mutual understanding of each other's grief. When outside forces drive Sarah and Mike further apart, Sarah seeks out Domenic in an attempt to salvage her floundering relationship. A series of crises and secrets threatens the fragile balance Sarah, Mike, and Domenic have created, and soon the trio find themselves grappling with the meaning of family and class, loyalty and faith. Mortal Things is a powerful reflection on the ties that can bind or break us.