This book consists of the text for two musicals. A Ballad of Slate-Colored Days portrays a haunted loner, in his early thirties, living on the edge of downtown Seattle in 1980. He spends his days writing poetic lyrics for songs. His dialogue with other characters, when not serious, displays flashes of dry wit about his life situation. His ruminations drift between the recent and distant past. Moonlight and Skeletons surveys the life and career of the Norwegian artist Edvard Munch. A character playing Munch delivers an account of his life. This is woven through with lyrics sung by a woman guitarist about his work and background