Fourteen-year-old Alex Moran spends every summer with his father and this year his dad has moved next door to Benny Harper and his aunt. When he meets Benny, he finds an outgoing boy his own age that shares his love of reptiles. Benny doesn't have any other friends though because he's been HIV positive from birth and no one understands. They're even afraid of him, which is something Alex doesn't understand at all. They spend nearly every day together during that first summer and each summer after that they come back together. Their lives change as they grow up, but their friendship only gets stronger until it gives way to love and Alex realizes that his dad moving next door to Benny was the best thing to ever happen to him. Nothing is as good as being in love with his best friend, and over the years Alex realizes just how much Benny means to him. He doesn't know how long he'll ever have with Benny, but whatever time he does have he's determined to make the most of it.