The story is about two boys brought together by fate and torn apart by fate. Thomas is a young boy man born to a single mother who meets a white, widowed doctor with a young son of his own, Eric.

Thomas and Eric become very close growing up in the wealthy doctor’s home in California, but when Thomas’s mother dies unexpectedly, Thomas’s father comes to take him away from the only family he had ever known. From there Thomas’s life is sad and lonely while he drops out of school at a young age and sells drugs on the street. Ironically, Eric’s life is also sad and lonely in that he cannot seem to love anyone like he loved Thomas and his mother even though he excels in everything he does and attracts people who love him dearly. Eventually, Eric and Thomas are brought together again in a shocking reunion.

I admire the character, Thomas, for his love of life despite his terrible experiences, but this book is pretty depressing starting when Thomas is taken away from the doctor’s home.

The book tells us that luck is irrelevant.  Thomas was lucky that he still believed in love even though his life negated that feeling, and ironically, Eric was lucky in his life status, but unlucky in love.