Three people meet at Edwards University in Noxhurst, a fictional town in upstate New York: Phoebe Lin, the American daughter of two South Koreans, John Leal, a mysterious half-Korean Edwards drop-out who knows Phoebe's father, and Will Kendall, a poor white Californian who is a former evangelist.

Phoebe grew up as a young piano prodigy but after mastering a challenging piece by the composer Libich and being complimented on it she realizes that her ambition will never match her talent.

She abandons her ambition to be a pianist and shortly before graduating high school also loses her mother in a car accident where Phoebe was driving.

The double loss causes Phoebe to become a reckless party girl in university where she drinks heavily and is sexually promiscuous with little regard for her own health.

At school Will hides the fact that he is much poorer than his classmates and must work at a restaurant in order to supplement his income and help to send money back home.

Rather than take care of him Phoebe sends him back home and spends the weekend with John Leal, causing Will to grow increasingly angry and jealous.

that a man saw Phoebe jump off a bridge, ostensibly committing suicide, but Will believes she might have been faking her death as she was a strong swimmer.

It's an "unusual novel, both raw and finely wrought" (New York Times Book Review), admirable mostly for how its fractured narration and lyrical, stunning language coalesce in a slow-burning plot".

[12] The New York Times Book Review called it "radiant" and "a dark, absorbing story of how first love can be as intoxicating and dangerous as religious fundamentalism.

[16] The L.A. Times noted that it had been buzzed about in literary circles long before publication and called it "the rare book that lives up to its pre-publication hype.