From one of America's most celebrated and controversial authors comes his debut novel, a bold chronicle of contemporary Los Angeles. Dozens of characters parade before the reader's eyes—some only making a one-off appearance—as James Frey unfolds the dramatic lives of a handful of L.A.'s lost souls: a brilliant, ambitious Latino woman whose hopes are shattered in a moment of crushing humiliation; an overly narcissistic action actor whose pursuit of an impossible passion threatens to destroy him; two nineteen-year-olds who flee the stifling atmosphere of their hometown and struggle to survive on the fringes of the big city; and an old alcoholic from Venice Beach whose life is turned upside down when a half-dead drug-addicted teenage girl shows up in front of the bathroom where he has taken up residence. This powerful novel resonates with millions of other lives that, taken together, describe a city, a culture, and an era. In a breathtaking tour de force, THE STORY unfolds the joys, horrors, and unexpected twists of life and death in the City of Angels.