Shelbi suffers from a bipolar disorder that sends her into extreme bouts of depression. While medication helps, keeping her head down and out of any relationship is the best course. But she can't help herself with Andy, who seems nice and sensitive, even if the first time she meets him it is due to him drunk dialing her.
Andy wants to be a good guy and, after Shelbi explains her issues, he promises he can be trustworthy. However, that's hard to do as he's dealing with the recent death of his baby sister and a somewhat more shocking loss (which is not revealed at first). His recourse to his problems is to escape into the bottle. Shelbi recognizes the risks, but she still wants to believe Andy when he promises it is all under control. It isn't and when Andy falls off the wagon one time too many and hurts Shelbi, things fall entirely apart.
A brisk, fast-moving story that feels authentic and addresses emotional health issues. The writing, however, lacks clarity at times and Stone has an excessive supply of melodrama to toss in from time to time when the story lags. The characters are strong and really make the story. Despite their faults, Andy and Shelbi are both sympathetic protagonists, but one wishes the adults had been a bit faster on their toes in keeping their children on the rails. A lot of well-meaning denial causes a lot of unnecessary pain (and some learning experiences).
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