Dr, David Harper, an American professor of cardiology, is on sabbatical living in London and commuting to the Clinical Research Centre near Harrow, where he hopes to test a new cardiac pacemaker. He is separated from his wife, Elizabeth, who, back home, is having an affair with her English exchange professor. David's research is going badly. An English nurse develops an unexpected interest in him, and he collides with his neighbor, a kindergarten teacher who lives in the apartment across the hall. When David is implicated in a dognapping from the CRC animal quarters, he believes that his sabbatical has reached its nadir. That is, until his wife, suitcases in hand, arrives at his apartment door. Rhythms of Irregular Hearts is a backhanded valentine to the London of 1987.