In this short novel, young lovers are transported from a comfortable setting and effortless ardor to a demanding reality that quickly broadens their understanding of the price of love and the cost of caring. The focus of the story shifts from romantic love to a struggle to save a gifted but at-risk young boy caught in the chaos of the drug plague. Birthday Dinner also examines the ever-fluid definitions of poverty and privilege, dignity and depravity, wisdom and innocence, with this mix of themes woven into a simple but compelling love story—or two love stories, or three, or four.