Paul is an accomplished author of several novels, though he is relatively young. He also has a drug problem that is clear to everyone, including himself. As a result, relationships around him are continually deteriorating. As the novel opens, his serious relationship with Michelle deteriorates. Paul's life revolves around the relationships he manages to develop with girls, even though they do not last very long. As a result, when he and Michelle split over a vague disagreement stemming from the amount of time he spends paying attention to her at various parties, he wanders aimlessly from social event to social event, eliciting extremely awkward responses from friends and strangers alike.

During this time, Paul's drug intake increases steeply, and he tends to forge strong relationships with others that abuse various substances on a regular basis. He continues in this fashion for some time, as he views his present life as a mere interim before his book tour. During this entire time, Paul makes new friends and loses old ones, neither seeming to make much of an impact on his life. He also begins several minor and insignificant relationships with women, until finally he meets Erin.

Though the reasons that Paul and Erin remain together are never explicitly stated, the two have a lot in common. They meet during Paul's book tour, and despite the fact that she lives in Baltimore while he lives in New York, they begin steadily communicating with one another, despite Paul's feelings that she is losing interest. Eventually, the two grow very close. Their drug usage increases. In fact, Erin admits at one point that she has never done so many drugs in her life. They find themselves in Vegas, where they decide to get married. Shortly thereafter, they travel to Taipei so that Erin can meet Paul's parents, but their relationship suddenly begins to deteriorate. They return, separate for a while, but always seem to wind up back together.

At the end of the novel, Paul feels as though he is dead due to the amount of drugs that he has used. When he realizes that he is still alive, he subsequently understands that he would rather be alive than dead after all, which was not something he'd known beforehand.