Santa Barbara, California. Summer of 1979. Nicholas Affini, an author/illustrator at the beginning of his career, invents a nature-based currency while working on a children’s book about ecology. His plant-based currency could change how people earn money and make a living—but the global potential and power of his idea overwhelms him. He abandons his entrepreneurial future and spends the next two years consumed by his job as a marketing art director in the gadgets and gifts mail-order catalog business. That one simple choice unleashes a life-disrupting force around him.

Even after his girlfriend sends a relationship earthquake his way and abruptly leaves, Nicholas ignores all the warning signs that his life is slowly unraveling. Shortly after the breakup, Nicholas encounters Paige Santrelle, an aspiring songwriter. Their chance meeting unlocks a creative connection nurtured by their shared passion for music and art. As their relationship develops, Paige attracts an enigmatic presence that seems to know everything about Nicholas and his internal struggles. Although initially thrown by the experience, she decides to explore her connection to this mystifying being. In the middle of an endless California summer, Paige finds herself on a quest to reconnect Nicholas to his original gifts and life purpose, critical to his survival and future.

Life: part-time is a story of loss, love, and rediscovering the personal courage essential to sustaining an authentic life, strengthened by the invisible depths of human connectivity.