The novel follows the complex interweavings of three friends who are each 30-years-old and living in New York City. The year is 2001. It's a time of disillusionment, the three friends all struggling to establish themselves in the world. Relying upon one another, they overcome some sticky situations and form more. They're a dramatic, impulsive bunch.
Danielle Minkoff works as a documentary producer. Having made some progress in her career, she begins to date seriously. She finds two men and dates them simultaneously. Ludovic Seeley is the editor of the Australian journal, The Monitor. His rival for Danielle's attention is her friend, Marina's father, the successful literary critic Murray Thwaite. Originally communicating over mutual concern for Marina's well-being, the couple begin a lively correspondence. Preferring Seeley, Minkoff does him a favor by getting him a job as Marina's editor. Unfortunately he and Marina immediately fall for each other and become engaged. The unhappy Danielle starts an affair with the married Thwait, which they pursue until the attack on 9/11 when he leaves her to be with his wife.
Marina signed a book contract after college, but she has spent all of her advance money and still is working on the book, which everyone around her knows is terrible. To save money, she's living with her parents until the book is finished. Struggling with her failure, Marina is pretty insecure. This becomes an issue when her 19-year-old cousin Bootie moves into the Thwaite household. He's eager and hardworking and eventually earns a job from Thwaite. He's assigned to do a journalism piece about Thwaite's company, but he uncovers a lot of unethical practices and laziness in his research. The Thwaites are all horrified with his final product, an expose denouncing Thwaite. When Seeley reads the article, he immediately wants to publish it. He and Marina fight, but they push through it. Unfortunately for Bootie, he's now made an intimidating enemy in Thwaite. Despite her book being trash, Seeley has fallen for her and publishes it. They are married in September.
Meanwhile, Julius Clarke is a critic who writes for The Village Voice. He doesn't make much money, so he's constantly working part-time jobs, but he hates it all. After meeting David Cohen, an eligible younger gay man, he starts a relationship. Cohen is a dominant personality who insists on Clarke staying at home. They maintain this mutually beneficial relationship until Cohen loses his job. Up to that point Clarke had lived with Cohen and rented his apartment to Bootie, but now both Clarke and Bootie must move.
All of these events lead up to the attack on the World Trade Center. Afterwards, Bootie goes missing. The Thwaites never do find him and assume he was killed. Danielle goes to Miami to be with her mother, mourning her unsuccessful relationship with Thwaite. While in Florida, she sees someone who she insists is Bootie, but he says he is a man named Ulrich New. The final scene is New -- really Bootie -- returning to his hotel room and packing, on the run from Thwaite once more after running into Danielle.
