After depressed real estate salesman Harvey Drumm literally runs into sixteen-year-old Clarie Maplethorpe on her bicycle, a bit of energy and hope surges into the thirty-seven-yearold's psyche. Each insists the accident was their fault; smitten, Harvey tries to find excuses to run into the girl again. With the high school just around the corner from his home, he finds her easily, and they become more than friends. As their relationship develops, Clarie reveals horrible details about her dead father and their relationship. Clarie's unusual mother, Shauna, adds to this stew, contributing neuroses of her own that compound those of the daughter. Harvey hires Clarie to work in his office; his business blossoms, and his spirit soars with her close presence. He knows it's wrong to love her, but he can't help himself. When Clarie begins to disappear regularly without explanation, he begins to wonder what he's gotten himself into by falling in love with a young woman who is practically still a child. The dangerous situation, compounded by jealousy, eventually brings matters to a head as fate deals all of them shocking and unexpected consequences.