The story follows an unnamed woman in her late twenties or early thirties living in New York, trying to move on from a long-ended but emotionally unresolved relationship with her college boyfriend, Liam. The novel begins when Liam unexpectedly texts her after nearly six years of silence. His first message is not romantic or apologetic but practical: he tells her he has herpes and wants to inform her before an upcoming family wedding they might both attend. The wedding belongs to one of his relatives and overlaps with her own social circle, immediately reopening emotional wounds she believed were sealed. This message triggers a flood of obsession, memory, and hope. She starts wondering whether the text is an excuse to reconnect, whether fate is intervening, and whether she might see him again at the wedding.
At this point in her life, the narrator is trying to “declutter” emotionally. She is attempting to quit smoking, stop stalking exes online, improve herself, and become someone who is ready for love. She works a vague office job in a “pharmaceutical-adjacent” publishing company with eccentric coworkers and a boss who runs mandatory meditation sessions. She is also a writer who has finished a short story collection that has been repeatedly rejected by agents. Her romantic past includes several failed or damaging relationships: Kai, a former best friend who gave her a drunken stick-and-poke tattoo of an Arizona license plate; Bruce, a painter who sexually assaults her later in the story; Conor, a gentle former classmate; and Liam, who remains the emotional center of her longing.
The tattoo from Kai becomes a recurring symbol but is treated very concretely in the plot. The narrator is in the middle of a long, painful tattoo removal process, constantly rescheduling appointments, and being scolded by the clinic staff for her inconsistency. The tattoo is ugly and fading slowly, and she attends multiple removal sessions over the course of the novel. Each session reminds her of how reckless and desperate she once was.
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