In 2004 the author found a little diary of 386 pages written by ?a 62 - year - old man in a nursing home. This story is inspired by that diary. As much as it is a comi - tragic tale of Jack and his sister's life, it is also a story about the triumph of the human spirit. It is an intimate profile the elderly, their plight and lost dignity - yet a testament to their resilience. E=mc2? Jack Smythe thinks Einstein is wrong and he has a theory to prove it. But he's no physicist. Instead, he's been a homeless kid, a palmreader, a cosmic theorist, a father of two (who probably aren't his) and a devoted companion to his sister Kitty who has her own demons. But now at 62, he wakes after an operation to find he's been placed at Eden, a below - average nursing home. Here he is confronted by Nurse Stinson, Collier the Hun, Pistol Pete, Skeleton Joe, Dooley the publican, Jim the ex - politician and Jim's rebel granddaughter, among others. He wants nothing to do with any of them. Instead, with wry wit Jack begins a story about Kitty starting with the day they ran away from home for good. It seems Jack is always running away and ultimately there's a daring escape at Eden. But unknown to Jack, it's the ''muddle of geriatrics'' at Eden that eventually put meaning in his life.