The Listeners follows a woman who, lying in bed next to her husband one night, hears a low hum that he cannot. This innocuous noise begins causing Claire Devon headaches, nosebleeds and insomnia, gradually upsetting the balance of her life, though no obvious source or medical cause can be found. When she discovers that a student of hers can also hear the hum, the two strike up an unlikely and intimate friendship, and start a community.