In 1969 during her seventeenth summer, Alex discovered the exciting world of artists, musicians, drugs and hippies on Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley.

It was there she met Michael, an artist, musician and draft dodger, who like herself came from a dysfunctional home.

Alex desperately escapes the grim home of her alcoholic parents and goes to Telegraph Avenue and to Michael, the only one whom she feels understands her.

In the house he shares with his roommate and fellow musician Jonathan, the three of them form a close friendship.

Alex and Michael help to heal each other's painful pasts, but their relationship becomes a perilous journey through love and danger amid the tumultuous backdrop of social protests and the Vietnam war.

When Michael agrees to hold a stolen package for his childhood friend Tom, a Hells Angel, the three of them are watched by the Secret Service, Tom's brother and a wealthy couple in the printing business, who are all in search of the stolen article.

In a daring act to rid themselves of the package, they set off a chain of events that ends the life of one and changes that of the others forever.