Retired Professor of Linguistics Desmond Bates is going deaf. Its a bother for his wife who has an enviably successful new career & is too busy to be endlessly repeating herself. Roles are reversed with his aging father who resents his sons attempts to help him. & then theres Alex a student whom Desmond has agreed to help after a typical misunderstanding at a party. But her increasingly bizarre requests cannot all be blamed on his defective hearing. So much for growing old gracefully...