Abe Ravelstein is a brilliant professor at a prominent midwestern university & a man who glories in training the movers & shakers of the political world. He has lived grandly & ferociously
- & much beyond his means. His close friend Chick has suggested that he put forth a book of his convictions about the ideas which sustain humankind or kill it & much to Ravelsteins own surprise he does & becomes a millionaire. Ravelstein suggests in turn that Chick write a memoir or a life of him & during the course of a celebratory trip to Paris the two share thoughts on mortality philosophy & history loves & friends old & new & vaudeville routines from the remote past. The mood turns more somber once they have returned to the Midwest & Ravelstein succumbs to AIDS & Chick himself nearly dies.