Twenty-year-old college student, Jakub Mazur, is a loner consumed by feelings of helplessness due to his mother's unexplained disappearance many years before. He feels he's not in charge of his own life, that forces beyond his control will always determine his destiny. But when a summer affair ignites between Jakub and Jeff Brucelli, Jakub tastes both romantic love and self-empowerment.

After returning to school for his third year of college, Jakub suffers another tragic loss; it shakes his faith in his ability to navigate life's challenges. Is he doomed to suffer at the hand of fate forever?

When Jeff is diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma, a potentially fatal cancer of the lymphatic system, Jeff's oncologist says he must endure debilitating chemotherapy cycles, then radiation treatments. Jakub is devastated when he learns of this, but decides, for once, he will take control of his future instead of behaving like a helpless bystander.