The Visitor: A Summary

Walter Vale is a widowed economics professor at Connecticut College who leads a pretty
secluded existence. He spends his days taking piano lessons and, on rare occasions, working
on a new novel, in an attempt to resemble his late wife, a classical concert pianist. When he is
requested to present a paper at a New York University academic conference, he is hesitant to
go because he is only a nominal co-author and has never read the entire work. Walter is
compelled to attend because his department boss, Charles, demands.

Walter is surprised to find a young unmarried couple living in his old Manhattan flat, which
they rented from a swindler who claimed it was his. Tarek is a Palestinian-Syrian djembe
player who immigrated from Syria, and Zainab is a Senegalese ethnic jewellery designer.
Later, he realises that they are also illegal immigrants. They rush to pack and depart despite
the fact that they have nowhere to go, but Walter chooses to let them stay. A friendship
progressively develops over the next few days. Walter learns to play the drum from Tarek,
and the two men start a regular drum circle in Central Park.

Tarek is falsely charged with subway turnstile jumping on his way home, arrested for
"failing" to pay his fare, despite the fact that he has, and brought to a Queens jail centre for
illegal immigrants. Walter employs an immigration lawyer to help Tarek avoid deportation
from the United States. Zainab leaves out of the apartment with Walter because she is
uncomfortable with him. She goes to live with relatives in the Bronx.

When Tarek's mother, Mouna, is unable to contact her son, she arrives suddenly from her
home in Michigan. She is unable to visit him in the correctional centre because she is also in
the country illegally. She reluctantly accepts Walter's invitation to stay in the flat, and the two
get close. Walter admits to her that his life is unfulfilling; he despises the sole course he has
taught for the past two decades, and the book he claims to be writing is nowhere near
finished. Mouna's journalist husband died in Syria after a long period of politically motivated
detention, and she is afraid about her son's future prospects if he is deported. When Mouna
reveals her fondness for the original cast recording Tarek sent her as a gift, Walter surprises
her with a screening of The Phantom of the Opera.

Tarek is deported to Syria abruptly and without any notice. Mouna, who has no family in the
United States, decides to join him and return to live there. Mouna joins Walter in bed for a
consoling embrace on their farewell night, blaming herself all everything that has gone very
wrong. The next day, Walter sees her off at the airport. Walter is alone once more, playing
his drum on the platform of a  subway station, as Tarek once told him he would like to do
someday.