Thanks to a mix-up at Dream Central, Grace has recurring dreams about a handsome stranger named Michael. When they finally meet in person, Grace is shocked to learn that he has no idea who she is.

Grace McMahon's life has stalled before it's even gotten off the ground. She lives in Kalamazoo, Michigan and works at an office-temp agency by choice as it pays the bills (most of the time) and gives her the flexibility to pursue what she really wants to do, which is to be a writer. However, she isn't able to cover her latest monthly living expenses again, much to the exasperation of her roommate sister Becky. Temp work is usually not what she considers fun, inspiring, or exciting, and she has just learned that her novel has been turned down by all the publishers with the same criticism: while well-written, the story is unremarkable in its small scope. Grace has been living this existence for four years--and she had given herself only three years to make it as a writer. Of late, the best part of her days has been her nights, more specifically her dreams, which night after night have centered on a man she doesn't think she recognizes, that in one of the latest dreams she has named Michael, and whom she is slowly falling for despite he being a figment of her dreams. She spends her days preoccupied with trying to see if she can spot him in her real life. What she doesn't know is that dreams are set by Dream Central, which exists at a metaphysical level one step above human consciousness, and that her dreams are only to include things within her scope of consciousness. Those dreams with Michael have been set by her latest dream associate, overly-confident new hire Alura, who is horrified to discover that she intertwined Grace and Michael's consciousnesses by accident. He is Michael Roy, an aspiring musician based in Portland, Oregon who--much like Grace--is on the cusp of turning onto his fallback life path, working at his father's food- and feed-distribution business, as his music career hasn't quite taken off. Alura feels that she has no choice but to come clean to her supervisor Harvey, who confirms that her error is a disaster. They must erase Michael from Grace's consciousness, but they can't without her consent. The truly catastrophic situation would be if Grace and Michael do meet because of Grace's dreams, which would set off a series of life-altering events, not only for the two of them, but the world. But she believes that Michael is her ideal man, so it would take a lot of convincing for her to consent to him leaving her consciousness forever and not searching him out in real life.—Huggo