What if you could follow around that intriguing character in your neighborhood and find out his story? Fredrik Backman’s sensitive storytelling and George Newbern’s engaging performance take you inside just such a life, and allow you to hear it from every angle.

Meet Ove. He’s a curmudgeon—the kind of man who points at people he dislikes as if they were burglars caught outside his bedroom window. He has staunch principles, strict routines, and a short fuse. People call him “the bitter neighbor from hell.” But behind the cranky exterior there is a story and a sadness. So when one November morning a chatty young couple with two chatty young daughters move in next door and accidentally flatten Ove’s mailbox, it is the lead-in to a comical and heartwarming tale of unkempt cats, unexpected friendship, and the ancient art of backing up a U-Haul. All of which will change one cranky old man and a local residents’ association to their very foundations.

This profound transformation will pull you in too, leaving you to consider how much you know—and how much you don’t know—about those around you. It might even teach you to become a better listener.