Plot Summary

Part 1
[Group 1: Prologue + Chapters 1-4 …]

(Prologue) The prologue is set in the summer of ’88 during the Iraq- Iranian War. An American naval ship, the Vincennes, had mistakenly fired at an Iranian aircraft killing 290 civilians. To console the ship’s crew packs of cigarettes were distributed. They run out of cigarettes so the lieutenant and Doug Fanning were tasked to buy more. While purchasing the cigarettes, the shopkeeper asked if Fanning was the one responsible for the causalities. When Fanning claimed that he was a member of the Vincennes, the owner refuses to take a murder's money. Doug leaves the money on the counter and tells the keeper that he would redo what he did the night before.



(1) Fast forward to the early 2000s and Doug Fanning is an aggressive, successful banker at Union Anion. Fanning prefers a hand on approach in bank management as seen in his personal recruitments. Recently, he purchased land in the affluent suburb of Finden, Mass. to build an ostentatious mansion. Doug notices that the neighboring house is run down and assumes unoccupied. On his way to work, he notices a woman leaving the home to walk her dogs. He drives up to greet his neighbor and after his introduction is snubbed, the woman confronts Fanning on the destruction of trees to build his mansion.

 (2) Chapter 2 describes Charlotte Graves. She is an older woman who has lived in her childhood home for her entire life. Her father was a politician, so she grew up affluent. She was a school teacher but was fired a few years ago because she couldn’t follow the strict and oppressive guidelines of the history curriculum. She lives with her two dogs, Sam and Wilkie. This chapter begins to describe Charlotte’s intimate relationship with her dogs; they have their own distinct personalities and “speak” to her. (3) Chapter 3 contains Doug’s backstory. He grew up in neighboring Alden, Massachusetts to a single mother. His father was wealthy but was never around when Doug was growing up. Doug’s mother was an alcoholic and this caused a lot of issues in their relationship. Doug often had to take care of her when she was too drunk to function. As he got older, Doug began itching to get away from his mother and the sight of her deteriorating. He joined the navy but didn’t tell his mother where he was going. This chapter also discusses the history of Union Atlantic and Atlantic securities, the bank for which Doug works. This securities group is very powerful and finds loopholes in the system in order to maximize profits. Doug’s boss, Jeffery Holland, likes Doug because of his impatience and aggression to make money and maintain power.

(4) Chapter 4 describes Charlotte’s brother, Henry Graves. Henry is the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and is a very powerful man. His work consumes his life; so much so, that when his wife, Betsy, passed away, he didn’t have time to grieve. This chapter describes a growing issue with the Venezuelan government, which has gotten into debt and need his help to bail them out. They owe money to Union Atlantic, so Henry had to speak with Holland on how to deal with the situation.

[Group 2: Chapters 5-9]

(5) In chapter 5 we are introduced to Nate Fuller, a senior at Finden High School who is described by his teachers as being "adrift". He constantly looks fatigued, has no interest in his classes, and he failed to send his college applications in the fall, and again failed in the spring to apply for colleges with rolling admissions, so he is in danger of "depressing" the high statistic of Finden High School students who are expected to attend college after graduation. His despondency, as we later find out, is the result of his father's recent suicide. After having promised his mother to seek tutoring for his AP history course, Nate meets Charlotte Graves at her home for a lesson, during which Charlotte gives an uninterrupted lecture on material that strays entirely from Nate's syllabus. When his tutoring session ends, he promises Charlotte that he will return, as he can tell she is need of company, and, as a consequence of his father's suicide, "the intuition of others' needs had become Nate's second nature" (98). After leaving Charlotte's house, Nate meets his friends Emily, Jason, and Hal, who drive him to the house of a drug dealer named The Valp, where they buy and smoke pot. The friends spend the rest of the night getting high and driving around town, until Nate is finally dropped off at his mother's house. He stands gazing at the house for some minutes before entering, thinking about his mother's loneliness, and berating himself for "forgetting his family" during the few hours he spent with his friends. The chapter ends with Nate saying goodnight to his mother, who has grown frail and distant since her husband's death.

(6) The chapter starts very simply with Nate and Charlotte meeting for the third time. At this point the topics of discussion has completely shifted from anything related to American History and Nate viewed it as irrelevant to his exam. The two go out for dinner and start to argue about Doug's house because Nate thinks it's nice while Charlotte views it as an abomination. Their relationship grew closer and Nate continues to visit her even after his AP exam. One day after one of their meetings Nate was returning home and decided to break into the Doug's house. He explores the house admiring everything he sees until he hears the sound of car door slamming shut.

(7) Instead of picking up from the end of last chapter the story rewinds to explain why Doug is home so early that day.This day he had a meeting with Vrieger his old commanding officer. They exchange minor pleasantries with small talk and Vrieger even says he plans on doing a third tour. Doug starts talking about Jessica the girl who he had a relationship with and how it ended when he thought it could've been indefinite. Their talk gets more serious as they shift topics to war and more specifically to Baghdad. Vrieger talks about how the thing he remembers the most is the women, what they wore and their reactions to everything. At this same time Doug asks the bartender to change the channel from the fighting it was showing and Vrieger accuses him of not caring. After this exhausting exchange it is clear Doug is affected and decided to go home. He finds Nate in the house and pulls a gun on the boy causing him to faint. Doug carries him and puts him down on the bed and watches over him and begins to feel sorry for the boy in front of him.

(8) Nate regains consciousness, and Doug begins to question him. Initially, Nate is taken by Doug's good looks. He belongs to that category of men for whom Nate goes "dreamy and hard, in a melancholy sort of way", and he therefore becomes determined to maintain contact with him. He tells Doug that he was crossing the yard from Charlotte's house, and ended up in in his house simply out of curiosity. Doug wonders if Charlotte sent Nate over as a spy, and shows frustration over the fact that she thinks she "owns the place". Seeing an opportunity to see Doug again, Nate offers to visit regularly with inside information about Charlotte, to which Doug agrees. After leaving Doug, Nate goes to Jason's house, where he, Emily, Hal, and Jason all take mushrooms. After a confrontational dinner with Jason's mom, the group leaves the house and goes swimming in the lake of the nearby college campus. When the mushrooms where off, Nate goes home and masturbates to Doug.

(9) Charlotte finishes a lengthy session with Nate, who she now considers to be among those students of hers who were "willing to entertain the notion that world might consist of more than their uses for it" (146). He had at first seemed unpromising, but she cannot help but acknowledge his attention to her every word, and his interest in her arguments. She then considers how he resembles her dead lover Eric, and for the rest of the chapter recalls a brief history of their life together. As a graduate student, she had begun to feel the social and personal pressure of being without a partner, but attempted to curb her feelings through study. At a party given by a professor, however, she meets Eric, who she approaches, and ends up falling in love with after a two hour long conversation in which he shows interest in her studies and taste in books. The two begin to live together, and for a time they enjoy what appears to be an idyllic relationship. As it turns out, Eric is a heroin addict, and during their time together he begins to exhibit the typical degenerative symptoms of the drug, such as using Charlotte for money, dropping out of school, and frequently nodding off on the couch. Eric makes an attempt to ween himself off the drug, but when his supply runs out he sends Charlotte to get some more. When she returns, he goes to the bathroom, shoots up, goes to the couch, and dies, presumably from an overdose. The chapter ends with Charlotte reflecting on the event, aware that, without her job, there is nothing to distract her from the memory.

Part 2
(10) We take a closer look at the life of Evelyn Jones in this chapter. Evelyn's brother has recently died and she is at the funeral. The next day she returns to work, but has trouble focusing. When one of her coworkers comes into the office to deliver some news, she is enlightened to the trouble that faces our main company, mainly the information coming out of Doug Fanning's office (whom we learn she does not trust). Evelyn also shows the reader that she is rather cold in her relationships with others, illustrated in her thoughts and interaction with Cressida, and her comment that she doesn't care if her brother's murderer is taken off the streets.

(11) While Doug researches a bit on Evelyn Jones and learns that she is in fact a fantastic employee of the company, Nate arrives to Doug's place as he does every night. After watching baseball together, Doug leads Nate up to his bedroom and Nate proceeds to perform oral sex on Doug. This is the first time their relationship has been taken to the physical level. The next morning Doug sees Charlotte outside his house with her dogs and goes to confront her. Their conversation is low-key heated and ends with her dogs lurching forward and Charlotte falling to the ground. Nate comes out to help, and Doug goes on his way to work. At the office Doug visits Evelyn and offers her a promotion. Doug discusses Charlotte's lawsuit with his lawyer for a bit, but ends the lunch when McTeague calls him. They argue a bit about the problems facing the company and Doug ends up finding out that it is worse than he expected.

(12) Henry comes to visit his sister Charlotte at her home, and progressively believes that Charlotte is mentally unstable. They attend the court session to watch as the court decides Charlotte's lawsuit in favor of her side. This ruling means that the city does not own the and they sold Doug, it belongs to the graves family. Charlotte can do with the land as she pleases.

(13) The chapter opens up with Glenda Holland deciding to throw a Fourth of July party for friends and Jeffrey ends up inviting almost everyone at Union Atlantic. We see all of the main characters in the same place for the first time in the book while they are all at this party. Although they don't all realize it quite yet, they are all intertwined in a fairly complex way. The company is starting to take a hit and it wasn't much of a Fourth of July holiday for Jeffery, he and Doug discuss possible ways to save the company. Nate realizes his secret relationship with Doug is no longer a secret in his circle of friends and truly begins to feel alone as he realizes that his interpersonal self image may not be the same as what others see him as. The chapter ends with the firework barge exploding in one giant burst.

(14) This short chapter mainly centers around the mental imbalance that Nate goes through while doing sexual acts for Doug. Doug seems semi-forceful in his sexual interaction with Nate and the chapter ends with Nate rushing to the shower in shame after a sexual encounter with Doug. This is the first time we sense hesitation/embarassment from Nate in his relationship with Doug.

Part 3
[Group 5: Chapters 15-21]

A newly promoted Evelyn Jones visits Henry Graves to report Union Atlantic's fraudulent activities. Doug Fanning, deceived by Holland to believe they were closing the deal with Taconic, is instead arrested.

(17) Charlotte and Henry walk together and Charlotte reminisces about their childhood. Henry, receiving a call from work, leaves Charlotte to inform his finance team that the plan moving forward was to save Union Atlantic. The next morning he gathers the eight head bank leaders and Prince Abdul-Aziz Hafar into a single conference room to talk things over, however receives a call about Charlotte at the last moment before the meeting.

(18) Wilkie, wanting justice and demanding Charlotte to become an activist and supposedly burn down Doug's house, and Sam, preaching against violence and telling Charlotte to love her neighbor, bicker at Charlotte as she thinks about what to do now that she has lost her case against Doug. She begins to gather items for a fire when she sees Eric's ghost who convinces her to stay in the house they loved each other in. As the mess of her life, the chaos of the barking dogs, and the swarm of human knowledge in her mind crowd her, she spreads turpentine all around her and thinks to watch herself light a match.

(19) After the announcement of Union Atlantic's security fraud, Doug acquires a new identity. Doug also finds out that Charlotte’s house burned down, and her with it. He later goes to his mother’s house for the first time in over a decade to say goodbye and finds that his mom is no longer the helpless drunk as she was when he left.

(20) The turnout for Charlotte's memorial service was much larger than expected. Days later, Nate is with Emily and her friends, and one of her friends asks about Nate. Nate recognizes Alex’s anxiety resembles his own around Doug. He finally casts aside his own apprehensions and makes the first move.

(21) Doug returns to where the novel began, Iraq. But before his second tour, he says goodbye to his mother. This time, he is working for a firm and an unknown client, and it is brought in to secure documents for an oil depot in Iraq. It’s risky business, something he is very familiar with.