James Frey meets interesting people in a clinic, with whom he forms relationships and who play an important role in his life both during and after his time in the clinic. These people include a mafia boss (the subject of Frey's subsequent book ''My Friend Leonard'') who plays a vital role in his recovery and a woman drug addict with whom he falls in love despite strict rules forbidding contact between men and women at the clinic. James finally recovers and never relapses.