Following Nathaniel Hawthorne's footsteps in Rome, a disillusioned middle-aged writer seeks meaning in things of little value while mistaking the needs of the soul as trivial, and of the heart as unreliable. Inspired in part by Hawthorne's
The Marble Faun
, this tale is also a bit of a travelogue, as significant events often take place in sites of historical mystery. Though somewhat dark and serious,
Slow Dance in a Winter Garden
is a story of contemporary people who find themselves - like Nathaniel - torn between the persons they had hoped to be and those they have actually become.