David Axelrod, an intelligent and intensely passionate teenager from an affluent New York family, becomes consumed by his relationship with Jade Butterfield, the beautiful daughter of a wealthy, unconventional family whose bohemian home feels to him like a world he was destined to enter. What begins as an exhilarating first love gradually becomes an all-encompassing obsession as David grows increasingly dependent on Jade and fascinated by her entire family, unable to distinguish intimacy from possession. When Jade's parents separate the young couple and David's desperate attempt to remain part of their lives culminates in a devastating act of arson, a fire destroys the Butterfield home and leaves David institutionalized. Years later, released and struggling to construct an ordinary life beyond the tragedy, David remains haunted by Jade and the version of their romance he has preserved in his mind. As he confronts the difference between loving someone and needing them to complete your identity, David must finally accept that the love he considered eternal may belong to the past—and that moving forward means allowing Jade to exist beyond the story he created around her.
