Bronte is a sixteen-year-old girl. She attends high school where she is the swimming star. Bronte meets Brewster Rawlins in the library one day and decides to take him on as some kind of project because she feels bad for him. However, this relationship soon blooms into a romance. When Bronte learns that Brewster can take injuries from people he cares about, she tells him she loves him. Bronte tries to pull Brewster out of his self-imposed cocoon and help him make new friends. However, by doing this Bronte causes Brewster to expose him to more concern for the people around him and to take more people's injuries.
Bronte goes out of her way to try to help Brewster, her intentions good even though she continues to be blind to what she is truly doing to him. When Brewster's uncle dies, Bronte arranges for Brewster to become a part of her family despite the dark emotions of her parents' imploding marriage. This causes more harm than good to Brewster, but he refuses to admit the truth to Bronte until he has no choice because he does not want to burden her with his pain. In the end, Brewster gives his life for Bronte. In return, Bronte and Tennyson try to take back some of their pain to help Brewster.