After the unexpected death of his partner, and with over a decade of experience as a pastry chef, David Lebovitz decides it's time to change course in his life. Looking for the inspiration and awe he first experienced in Paris just after college, he sells off everything he owns, save for three suitcases, and finds himself a wee Parisian apartment in the Bastille. Lebovitz's first taste of the mystifying workings of Paris is the painter his landlord hires, who still shows up for touch-ups and

—Amy Thomas