Beneath the Weight of Sadness is a novel about Truman Engroff, a gay, seventeen-year-old boy, living in an affluent, New Jersey town, Persia, who is brutally murdered one early Sunday morning. The murder becomes sensational not only for the fact that Truman is gay, but because the town is peopled with mostly wealthy conservatives who view anomalous lifestyles as a disruption to their strict view of how the world should function. The death of Truman's brief life is told in four separate narratives, by: his father, his mother, the detective investigating the case, and his best friend growing up, Carly Rodenbaugh. All four of these people are devastated by Truman's death, and the story of his death unfolds as the characters tell the story of his life.