Summer's is a life of lives cut short - her life as a dancer terminated by injury, and her life with Nicholas truncated by indecision as her beloved older brother's life is decimated by HIV when AIDS slowly and inexorably ravages his body. Called home to help care for Todd, Summer recalls her youth as the youngest child of irresponsible, often absent parents, and her reliance on her big brother for emotional and literal survival. Summer must come to terms with joys and sorrows in this wonderfully moving book on love in all its variations.