Sometimes in life there are no happy endings. Seventeen year old Peter Barnes is a student of Fair Lawn High in the 1970's. His parents divorced after a violent marriage, his older brother Keith is constantly high on drugs, his younger sister Jackie seems the only one relatively sane, and Peter is lost. Peter hides in plain sight, avoiding making friends for fear of the pain of separation. Disaster strikes Peter when he meets a beautiful older woman, Wendy Saunders and loses his heart to her instantly. Widowed, Wendy had married a rich old man and now craves the youth she missed. Unfortunately her yearning for Peter turns out to have dire consequences. This story is set in two parts, Book One, Peter's youth, and Book Two, ten years later.