Imagine discovering something so profound it could change the entire world for the better. David Posey believes he has. David is autistic and along with his brother Joe, suffered violence as a child. David has spent his fifty years wanting to be normal, loved and engaged in life, but simply can't get beyond his past and his disability. David believes that what most people believe is racism is actually something else. When he demonstrates it, people change immediately and for the better. It is through this device he believes he can heal the world and heal himself.David's brother Joe was the best high school basketball player in America and the events that ruined David’s life were brought about by Joe's pursuit of his dream. Joe survived and prospered despite a nightmarish journey in Viet Nam.

The Content of Character tells the multigenerational story of a melting pot American family from David and Joe's childhood onward. David is the voice. He builds a relationship with Amanda, a co-worker in the market research firm where he operates the waiting room for interview subjects. Despite his inability to express himself with any device but a quoted song lyric or a line from a television show he manages to tell her his story.

He is building a new life until his big Uncle Bjorn, a giant from the north woods of Maine, explains real life as he sees it; both the good and the bad. This causes David to reverse directions and he finally reveals the horrors and the truth of his childhood to Amanda. Despite all the pain that falls into each life, David survives, achieves, and finds love.