Philosopher Jacob Needleman begins his inquiry into love where others end: What happens after you fall in love? Myths and stories offer abundant insight into combustible love: falling in love, surviving betrayal, or the obstacle course of intense passion. But the culture is bereft of stories to guide lovers through sustained love. What happens after vows are exchanged, or after the sunset peaks, or when Odysseus, home from Troy, reunites with his wife Penelope? Myth is silent then.

In his Little Book on Love, Needleman offers a new interpretation of why two people are brought together in love in the first place. What can lovers give to each other over a lifetime? That is the challenge for couples for whom the first mystery of love has passed and the work of living together begins. What is the purpose of love? What is its value? The answers, says Needleman, are found in how two people can help each other in the search for life's meaning, and in the uncommon tales of sustained love he proposes as models of thought and behavior.