Don Tillman, the narrator and main character of The Rosie Project, is a 39-year-old professor of genetics at the University of Melbourne (Australia). He’s extremely rational, organized, and focused. He also lacks empathy and social skills, and eschews human contact. In other words, he likely has Asperger’s syndrome but doesn’t know it.

We follow Don as he tries to find a suitable mate for marriage while helping Rosie, who he believes to be an inadequate applicant for his affection, find her father via surreptitious DNA testing.