The Pact: A Love Story (1998) by Jodi Picoult tells the story of teens Emily Gold and Chris Harte who enter into a pact to die by suicide. Emily’s death has taken place by the novel’s opening, but Chris is swiftly charged with her murder. As the novel unfolds, the complicated dynamics of the lives of the teens—lifelong best friends who grew up next door to one another—are presented. The nature of the “pact” that Chris entered is slowly revealed as the narrative challenges what it means to keep a promise.

Picoult, author of 28 novels and two young-adult books, is acclaimed for her layered plots ranging from everyday tensions—such as in parenthood and family dynamics—to the extraordinary, such as a protagonist who finds himself at the center of a modern-day witch hunt in Salem Falls (2001) or a child conceived to be a bone-marrow donor for a cancer-stricken sibling in My Sister’s Keeper (2004). Picoult’s novels tend to tackle contemporary issues, including school shootings, child abuse, and assisted suicide. In many of Picoult’s plots, conflicting viewpoints are hashed out on legal grounds. Picoult is the recipient of numerous awards, including a New England Bookseller Award for fiction, the New Hampshire Literary Award for Outstanding Literary Merit, and a Hale Award.

This guide refers to the 2006 paperback reprint by William Morrow/HarperCollins.

Content warning: This guide contains references to suicide and sexual assault.

Plot Summary

The novel opens on a November night in 1997. Two sets of parents—the Golds and the Hartes—are summoned to the hospital and told their teenager is injured. The two families are neighbors and close friends, and their children—Emily Gold and Chris Harte—are lifelong best friends who are now dating. Chris has a large cut that he sustained after blacking out but is not in serious condition. Emily, however, died from a gunshot wound to the head. Chris, upset and wanting to see Emily, confesses that they made a pact to die by suicide together.

Chris is questioned by police detective Anne-Marie Marrone, who becomes certain, based on autopsy reports detailing the trajectory of the bullet, that Emily could not have fired the gun herself. Chris is charged with murder. On the night of his 18th birthday, he is taken into police custody and then transferred to a maximum-security prison.

The plot alternates between present and past scenes that reveal the development of the families’ friendship. Michael and Melanie Gold purchase the house next door to Augusta “Gus” and James Harte in 1979, when both Melanie and Gus are pregnant. The two women become fast friends, and the couples grow to be inseparable. Emily and Chris are raised as brother and sister—best friends who do everything together. The families spend vacations and holidays together, and Chris and Emily’s bond grows stronger. In their mid-teens, the two shift into a romantic relationship. At the time of Emily’s death, they are high school seniors.

The chapters of the novel detailing the past move chronologically up to the night of Emily’s death. A key event of Emily’s adolescence is revealed through flashbacks Emily experiences as a teen. When they are nine, Chris dares Emily to enter a men’s restroom at a fast-food restaurant. She does and is sexually assaulted by a male employee. Emily never reveals this event, nor the trauma it brings, to anyone.

In the months leading up to his trial, Chris meets with attorney Jordan McAfee. Initially, Chris insists that he and Emily had entered into a suicide pact, but he confides in his mother that he didn’t plan to die by suicide. Instead, he hoped to change Emily’s mind by pretending to go along with the plan. McAfee insists they must maintain the argument that Chris wished to die by suicide.

Chris’s indictment and imprisonment and Emily’s death divide the families. Melanie is instantly certain of Chris’s guilt, adamant that Emily displayed no factors that would increase her risk of dying by suicide and could not have done so. Gus, on the other hand, staunchly defends Chris, certain of his love for Emily. Chris becomes Gus’s sole focus. The connection between her and James suffers, as James’s coping mechanism is to go about with life as usual. He is unwilling to speak about Chris’s situation or serve as a witness in his defense.

Michael, however, is undecided; like Melanie, he witnessed no evidence of Emily being troubled in any way. However, he cannot envision Chris harming Emily. As the novel unfolds, Michael comes to believe in Chris’s innocence and agrees to testify on his behalf. He and Melanie grow apart, as she views this as a betrayal. As they grow distant from their respective spouses, Michael and Gus are brought together. Their bond deepens and teeters on becoming intimate, but Michael ends things as the trial gets underway.

Chris’s trial takes place in May 1998. In the months leading to it, he learns to endure prison life, often with unpleasant results, such as when he is framed for possessing contraband and must endure solitary confinement. His good behavior earns him an upgrade to medium security, where he becomes acquainted with his cellmate, Steve, who is set to be tried for the death of his infant.

Chris learns that Emily was 11 weeks pregnant at her death. Melanie and the prosecution use this as motive for the theory that Chris killed Emily, but he is adamant that he had no knowledge of her pregnancy. Scenes from the past reveal that Emily sought an abortion. Retraumatized by the male doctor's touch at the procedure, she couldn’t follow through with her plan.

At the trial, the prosecution maintains that forensic evidence indicates that Emily could not have fired the bullet that killed her. The gun that killed Emily was owned by James and brought to the scene by Chris, who is a hunter like his father. Emily’s pregnancy is presented as the motive for murder. McAfee maintains that Chris, deeply in love with Emily, entered into a suicide pact when he learned of her desire to die by suicide. He casts doubt on the assertion that Emily could not have fired the gun herself and presents testimonies from high school teachers that indicate that Emily showed signs of depression and that Chris is incapable of murder.

Gus is scheduled to be the final witness. On the night before she testifies, Chris confesses that he shot Emily, but Gus maintains Chris’s innocence on the stand. Chris unexpectedly demands to testify on his own behalf. He reveals that he pulled the trigger, but that this was done as a means of assisting her in carrying out the death that she desired. Chris is adamant that this role was not murder: He acted as a loving boyfriend and friend carrying out a promise to fulfill Emily’s wishes.

A flashback scene details the final moments of Emily’s life, in which both teens hold the barrel of the gun, hands on top of one another, with their fingers placed atop one another’s on the trigger. McAfee uses this detail to cast doubt on Chris’s version of events, illustrating how it is possible that—given that Chris blacked out as the gun was fired—it was indeed Emily’s finger that pulled the trigger. When the verdict is read, Chris is found not guilty.

A brief epilogue follows in which the Harte family watches Melanie and Michael pack up their belongings and drive away, having sold their house and purchased another one in the same town.