From the moment they were delivered from the womb it seemed that Emily Gold and Chris Harte were destined to be together, and their parents certainly hoped that to be the case.

However, Chris claims that he and Emily made a suicide pact, and he had fallen unconscious before he had the chance to end his own life as well.

When a grieving Melanie caught wind of this, she is relieved to have the finger turned away from herself after struggling to believe she had not seen Emily's suicidal tendencies.

Melanie focused all her anger at her daughter's premature death on making sure that her murderer (i.e. Chris) paid for his crime.

When Melanie Gold comes across a hidden diary belonging to Emily that contains proof that Chris had not known about the baby because she had not told him, she destroys the book in a fire.

Emily also feared that her pregnancy at such a young age would ruin her reputation and her ability to meet the expectations that she had set for herself in her youth.

Emily secretly attempted to get an abortion, but she backed out at the last minute when a male doctor inadvertently gave her a flashback to her assault as a child.

In a last minute decision Chris requests his mother's removal as a defense witness, and instead wishes to testify on his own behalf.

Much to his lawyer's dismay Chris takes the stand and tells the truth about what happened the night of Emily's death.

He begins telling the story a few weeks before that fateful night when Emily first told him she wanted to die by suicide, and he had dismissed her statement, but then she brought it up again and he could not ignore it any longer.

Chris explains that at first he wanted to tell someone, but quickly realized he would be betraying Emily's trust, and that the burden of saving her fell onto him alone.

In order to maintain Emily's trust, he plays along with her plan and brings his father's gun loaded upon her request to the carousel that held so much sentimental value for them.

After basking in each other's presence for some time, Emily lifted the gun to her head and found that she was too scared to do it on her own so she begged Chris to do it for her.

The jury had reached a verdict, and neither McAfee nor anyone else supporting Chris thought there was much hope of the decision being in his favor after his confession on the stand.

When he finds himself on trial for the murder of his girlfriend, amidst half-truths, lies, and foggy memories, he must decipher what truly happened that night and hope his love for Emily is as real to the jury as it is for him.

She is at a crossroads when she is left to defend her son's character in court, while trying to mend a relationship with Melanie who has already convicted Chris before the jury has even reached a verdict.

However, in the novel Chris is undergoing a mental evaluation, after he was found at the carousel and neither the hospital nor his mother think it would be a good idea for him to attend the funeral.