"'You never told me how crazy you were,' Jack started again. 'On a scale of one to ten, you said? I'm off the charts. Actually, I'm here for the final fitting for my straitjacket.' I spoke before thinking, and then went rigid as I realised I had done the forbidden: made a joke about mental illness."Meredith has been clinically depressed since she was fourteen years old. She can't see the point of trying to change anything now. Until a chance encounter with a bipolar boy makes her want to start fighting. Aged seventeen, Meredith meets Jack in their psychiatrist's waiting room.

However, Meredith has a fear of physical contact of any kind. In between swapping witty quips are moments of raw honesty, though neither of them is quite able to face up to the reality of living with a mental illness.