Roger Blythe is a well-to-do novelist in New York City with a beautiful spouse and a moderately successful career. One night while driving home from a house-party he suddenly awakens in the bed of a snow white hospital, as if from a deep sleep. He's told by everyone around him that he's been in a coma for several years, and that he is really Gilbert Janes, the resident of an idyllic village in the countryside called Somerville. The townspeople greet his recovery with thunderous applause but Roger has his doubts about this supposed "real life" that he's woken up in.
