Adam Wilde is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the band Shooting Star. He is the songwriter of the music that made him and his bandmates stars. But he is unhappy with his life, and is particularly haunted by his abrupt abandonment by Mia, his former girlfriend. He has everything a person is supposed to want, but can only think of her, and wonder why she left him. When the novel begins, he is isolated from his band, dreads the upcoming tour, and is abusing drugs and alcohol to numb his pain. Over the course of the story, he learns why Mia left him, takes responsibility for his actions, and understands the path his life should now take.

Before the events of this novel, Mia was in a car accident that killed her parents and her little brother, Teddy. When she comes out of the resulting coma, she finds that she has been accepted to Juilliard. However, it is now difficult for her to play her cello. Her personality has also been altered slightly, and she has to learn how to be “herself” again. When she leaves for New York, she promises Adam that they will stay in touch and that they will always be a couple.