In this world, love is a sickness. THD (Twisted Heart Disease) is an epidemic among especially teens and yound adults. Caused by intense unrequited love, the disease involves one coughing up dried flakes of blood, and the feeling that their heart is being twisted and crushed. There is no cure, but there is one natural way to get rid of it- win the heart of their unrequited love. Alice Violet is a girl with severe social anxiety, who stutters so badly that she can't get her words out sometimes. Michael Hart is the school's resident enigmatic bad boy, who has a severe temper problem but still manages to get almost all the girls swooning after him. After the two meet, in an unlikely situation, Alice begins to feel severely ill. She passes it off as a fever, but she knows deep down what it really is.