K-Pax: A Novel

When a new patient is brought to a mental institution claiming to be an inhabitant of a planet called K-PAX, the hospital seems just the place for him. Yet, except for certain otherworldly abilities, the alien, prot, appears to be perfectly sane.
In taped therapy sessions prot is asked about life on K-PAX - its lifestyle, principles, foods, language. Prot paints a consistent and credible portrait of a glorious utopia painfully unlike our own and yet so possible, could we only erase from human nature its greed and cruelty. It becomes easy, even desirable, to believe in prot's identity and homeland.
But prot insists that he must return home. As his announced date of departure approaches, staff and patients alike are thrown into turmoil: If he is mad, what will happen when the fateful day arrives? If K-PAX is for real...please, may they come along too?