Andy Mues is a nineteen-year-old left paralyzed by an accident the night of his high school graduation. Doctors had believed that Andy would walk again but as of the time of the novel, he has not done so. When Andy and his mother first moved into the same condo complex where Meredith and her mother live, there is an instant connection between Andy and Meredith. It turns out that Meredith's father not only molested Meredith, but also molested Andy. Charles had an affair with Andy's mother and had moved in with them for nearly a year. Charles had gained the boy's trust and then began molesting him just before he ended the relationship. The idea of being near the man who molested him so many years ago makes Andy physically sick. Andy's mother tells Meredith that just before she learned about the abuse, she had watched as Andy had climbed a tree then let go, allowing himself to fall to the ground and break several bones. Although doctors had labeled him as accident-prone, Mrs. Mues recognizes in her son the lack of the will to live. Andy does, however, believe that God can cure his paralysis if he so desires.
During the time that they live in the condo complex together, Andy and Meredith develop a deep boyfriend-girlfriend relationship. Andy is one of the people who keeps an eye on Meredith after her father returns home from prison. He gives her the keys to his apartment so that if she needs a safe place to hide, she can go there. Andy also gives her the oaken statue of Madonna to keep at her house while he is away in Iowa. He tells her that he wants her to have the statue in case she needs it. After Meredith whacks her father with the statue and leaves him a quadriplegic, Andy is cured of his paralysis. He meets Meredith in the garden at her grandmother's house in a scene similar to a dream he'd had just before he and his mother left for Iowa.
