The novel follows the life of Clay, a rich young college student who has returned to his hometown of Los Angeles, California for winter break circa 1984.

Through first-person narration, Clay describes his progressive alienation from the culture around him, loss of faith in his friends, and his meditations on events in his recent past.

[1] After reuniting with his ex-girlfriend Blair, and friends like Trent, now a successful model, Clay embarks on a series of drug-fueled nights of partying, during which he has one-night stands with both sexes.

In between descriptions of his days and nights, Clay recounts a vacation spent with his parents and grandparents, during which he seemed to be the only person concerned that his grandmother was dying of cancer.

At one party he watches as the revellers joke and take Polaroids of his friend Muriel while she injects heroin; at another, he and Blair are the only two who exhibit revulsion when Trent shows a snuff film, which sexually excites several partygoers.

It is revealed that Julian has become a heroin addict and turned to prostitution in order to pay off a debt to unnamed drug dealers.

After attending a concert with his friends, Clay accompanies them to an alleyway where they stare fascinated at the corpse of a young man, presumably dead by overdose.

Now feeling completely isolated and with winter break coming to an end, Clay reflects on the brutal nature of his surroundings as he returns to college in New Hampshire.

[2] He cites his major influences as Joan Didion and Los Angeles noir, but he was also inspired by the moral ambiguity of American Gigolo.

It starred Andrew McCarthy as Clay, Robert Downey Jr. as Julian, Jami Gertz as Blair, and James Spader as Rip.

At a Q & A at Harvard Book Store in 2012 Ellis stated in a reply to a question of whether Less than Zero will be remade that Tarantino "has shown interest" in adapting the story.

[12] Ellis announced in 2005 that he would be writing a sequel to Less than Zero: a story following the same characters, set in the present day, that focuses on their lives as they approach middle age.

[14]Upon the release of Imperial Bedrooms, Details commented on Less than Zero and its original reviews, stating: "Years ago people could have read some of your books and said, 'Oh, this is just nihilism.