Set in Chapel, Utah, Stockholm Syndrome follows the lives of four aspiring musicians and their muse, who does as much harm as she does good for the band. Hunter, Michael, James and Brandt make up another garage band, spending their bored winter days writing and practicing songs. At the same time, Abby Callahan, the beautiful sociopath and love interest for most of the band, runs away from her wealthy Mormon family in search of entertainment and the atypical, without concern for who she hurts along the way. When Brandt, the band's talented frontman, ends up dead in a dingy drug house garage, the rest of the guys realize Capel has less than nothing to offer. The group sets out for New York in hopes of making it. Abby maintains a relationship with both Hunter and Michael, refusing to choose between the two. Hundreds of miles into the road trip tempers and tensions get the best of them. James persuades Hunter that he is better off without Abby. Michael, on the other hand, feel she should have stayed at home in Chapel instead of chasing impossible dreams across the country. With splintering motivations and dimetrically opposed ideals, the end of the band and thei dream seems inevitable. Yet happiness takes different forms for different people and the finale of the book echoes Thackeray: "Who, having what he truly desires, is evber truly happy?"