The tumult of living, the glory and the pain. The precious intimacy of little things. I wanted so much and so much.

Moments away from jumping into the swirling Thames, Dick is saved by a passing stranger with a grin, a quip and a cigarette. With his self-assurance and easy charm - and his honesty about having killed a man - Jake has a strange magnetism, and the two men plunge into an intense friendship.

Escaping the oppressive shadow of his poet father, Dick embarks on an adventure of self-discovery through Europe - until he washes up in bohemian Paris, where he resolves to pursue his artistic dreams. But as Jake always warned, no one can stay young forever . . .