Plot summary

Adam is 27, working for public radio in Seattle. He consults a doctor about his back pains and gets a terrible diagnosis - a rare form of cancer that's fatal half the time. Chemo starts immediately. His best friend Kyle, and his girlfriend, Rachael, vow to see him through it. Rachael helps keep his dramatic mother at bay, he meets some of the regulars at chemo, and he's assigned a grad-student psychologist, Katherine: he's her third patient, and she tries to say the right things, often without effect. Kyle wants to turn Adam's cancer into a chick magnet, Rachael keeps Adam at arm's length, Adam doesn't answer his mom's calls, and the chemo saps his strength. The clock ticks.—