A fortnight after jazz pianist Carl Tyler's funeral, Tamara has one week to go before she leaves New Zealand to return to her native Chicago. Nola wants to solve the mystery of her son's death, to know everything Tamara can tell her, so she begins to tell Carl's lover about the time surrounding her son's conception, his childhood and his early love of music, in the hope that Tamara will remember. Music from a distant room is a book about how memory can shape our lives, about story-telling, fate, forgiveness and the search for meaning in loss.