Louis is an eighteen year old university student with an anxiety disorder. His only friend is Niall, who outshines Louis with his smarts and his personality. Desperate for a fresh start, Louis takes an art class, way outside his comfort zone. His plans to build a new life take a turn when he meets the hot teacher's assistant, Harry.

Harry likes writing and books and quiet things. Louis is the new guy at the library who shares Harry's passion for literature. Harry also has a boyfriend named Parker who likes to hit him.

It's been months since The Incident, but Harry hasn't forgotten. How could he, with the nightmares keeping him awake every night. Not a second goes by that he doesn't think about it. The Incident left his sister, Gemma, a walking tragedy. She doesn't speak, she barely eats, and she rarely sleeps. Orphaned in a camper in the middle of a run down trailer park, they're barely surviving, haunted by the gruesome memories of what happened that night. When the news catches wind of their whereabouts after seven months of searching, Harry and Gemma are taken into CPS custody, where they're placed with their mother's old childhood friend. Excited for a new start, one with running water and indoor toilets, Harry does his best to put one foot in front of the other and finally be alive. But he's been just living for so long that he's not sure how, especially since Gemma doesn't seem to be improving. And to top it all off, his new family's eldest son, three years his senior, is too curious and seems to know just a little too much.

Harry Styles is agnostic from a heavy Christian upbringing. He doesn't get along with his step dad, whom is a regular church attender with strong religious views on life. His sister, an atheist and a university student, ran away from home and Harry hasn't been the same since. Noticing his slip in grades, his Chemistry teacher signs him up for a peer support group, where he finds a friend in Louis Tomlinson, someone who always blended in with his daily routine until now. Harry leans on Louis for support for both his grades and his family, but his mother is worried they're getting too close. When she makes him chose between a boy and his family, Harry is forced to make the toughest decision of his life, and he may just lose the only love he's ever known in the process.