The protagonist is a young, unnamed African American man of unspecified age who lives in New York City. He is a nomenclature consultant who develops product names; he is a genius at this, and names come to him so instinctively that he often creates product names for the people, places, and things around him. Less than a year ago he was the star consultant at a prestigious firm, but he left after his injured and infected toe was amputated. Now, he walks with a psychosomatic limp and is a recluse. His lack of a name is ironic given his profession, and it raises the question of whether naming is as important as the plot suggests.

The protagonist is cerebral and betrays little emotion during the course of the novel. Armed with a wry sense of humor, he is obsessed with the practice and process of naming—a job that puts into conflict the function of names as representations of truth and the function of branding as obfuscation of the negative. The protagonist’s commission to decide on a new name for the town of Winthrop makes this conflict come to the fore, as the proposed town names each in their way occlude the town’s difficult history and erase the injustice done to one of its founders.