When journalist Steve Lopez sees Nathaniel Ayers playing his heart out on a two-string violin on Los Angeles’ skid row, he finds it impossible to walk away.

More than thirty years ago, Ayers was a promising classical bass student at Juilliard—ambitious, charming, and also one of the few African-Americans—until he gradually lost his ability to function, overcome by schizophrenia.

Over time, the two men form a bond and Lopez imagines that he might be able to change Ayers’s life.

The Soloist is a beautifully told story of devotion in the face of seemingly unbeatable challenges.