In hope of reconnecting with her ethnic ties, Arden Michaelson sets off for France to study abroad during her junior year of college for a semester, leaving her best friend and boyfriend behind. Upon arriving at the "City of Lights" she is kissed by a set of foreign lips.

From the Latin 'ardere': "to burn"

For most people, tradition consists of Christmas dinners, movie nights, and Sundays in the bakery down the street. For Leighton Carrie and Charles Elliot, tradition brings them one hundred and two stories up; to the top of the Empire State Building every first of September.