Corbin College, not-quite-upstate New York, winter 1959-1960: Ruben Blum, a Jewish historian - but not an historian of the Jews - is coopted onto a hiring committee to review the application of an exiled Israeli scholar specialising in the Spanish Inquisition. When Benzion Netanyahu shows up for an interview, family unexpectedly in tow, Blum plays the reluctant host, to guests who proceed to lay waste to his American complacencies.