Sundays at Tiffany's

The novel opens with Michael racing through New York toward a hospital where Jane is dying, flashing back to their time together at the St. Regis Hotel. The narrative then shifts to eight-year-old Jane Margaux, who describes her ritual Sunday afternoons at the Astor Court in the St. Regis, sharing a table with Michael, the handsomest and kindest man she has ever known. She eats coffee ice cream sundaes with hot fudge while he orders melon balls and lemon sherbet. They play the "Jane-and-Michael game," inventing stories about other diners. Jane's mother, Vivienne Margaux, a famous Broadway producer, sits nearby monitoring Jane from a distance without joining her. Jane is content because she has Michael. She reveals he is her imaginary friend.

The narrative shifts to Michael's perspective. Each morning he waits invisibly outside Jane's Park Avenue building and walks her to school. He reflects that imaginary friends help children feel less alone, but they must leave once the child reaches a certain age. He dreads telling Jane he must leave on her ninth birthday and never return.

Jane's birthday proves devastating. At the after-party for Vivienne's new musical, the Broadway chorus sings "Happy Birthday," but Vivienne has disappeared. Jane's father, Kenneth, arrives briefly with a stuffed poodle instead of the real puppy she wanted, then leaves for Nantucket with his girlfriend. In her bedroom, Michael comforts Jane and delivers the crushing news: He must leave forever. He shares a secret: Once he goes, the child always forgets him. Jane begs him to stay, but Michael fades from the room. Jane cries out that she will never forget him.

Twenty-three years later, Jane works at ViMar Productions, Vivienne's company. Vivienne remains domineering, criticizing Jane constantly. Three years earlier, Jane produced a play called Thank Heaven, based on her childhood relationship with Michael. Despite Vivienne's prediction it would fail, it became a hit and Tony winner. Jane is developing a film version, with wealthy developer Karl Friedkin as a potential investor and Vivienne agreeing to match his contribution. Jane's boyfriend, Hugh McGrath, a handsome but self-absorbed actor who played Michael onstage, is chronically thoughtless, standing Jane up at restaurants while Vivienne lobbies for him to star in the film.

Meanwhile, Michael is between assignments, enjoying a sabbatical in New York. One evening he spots a woman on the street and recognizes her instantly: It is Jane, grown up. No imaginary friend has ever encountered a former child as an adult. Compelled by an impulse he cannot explain, he follows her and observes her life from a distance.

At a cocktail party at the Metropolitan Museum, Hugh ambushes Jane with his agent and business manager, who pressure her to cast him in the film. When Jane resists, Hugh erupts and storms out. Michael, who has followed Jane to the event, trails her afterward to Bemelmans Bar at the Carlyle Hotel but leaves without speaking. As he goes, Jane catches a fleeting glimpse of a man in the bar mirror who looks impossibly like Michael. She tells herself it was a trick of the light but is shaken.

Hugh later drives Jane to Brooklyn, produces a Tiffany's ring, and proposes a trade: the ring for the movie role. Devastated, Jane refuses. Hugh orders her out of the car and speeds away. Jane wanders into the Astor Court at the St. Regis and orders her childhood sundae. A few tables away, she spots a man who looks exactly like Michael, sitting with Claire, a woman he recently befriended. Trembling, Jane approaches and says his name. Michael is stunned she recognizes him; no former child has ever remembered. Claire excuses herself, and Jane confirms she has thought about Michael every day for twenty-three years.

They begin spending time together, walking the city, visiting the Met, and sharing meals. Jane notices a shaving cut on Michael's chin and observes with wonder that he bleeds. One evening they kiss for the first time. Vivienne makes a rare late-night visit to Jane's apartment, revealing that her own mother died of heart failure at 37 and telling Jane to think about it carefully. Emboldened by her relationship with Michael, Jane declares that Hugh will never get the film role and that Thank Heaven is her property. When Hugh confronts her at the office, Jane punches him. Vivienne sides with Hugh, and Jane quits.

Michael, unable to find Jane, enters the Cathedral of St. John the Divine and prays. A tear rolls down his cheek for the first time. A premonition delivers a devastating message: He was sent back to New York to guide Jane out of life. Jane is going to die.

Michael finds Jane on the steps of the Met. He proposes they escape to Nantucket, an island from their shared childhood. They spend idyllic days biking, exploring, and falling deeply in love. Jane tells Michael she has loved him her entire life, and they make love. Throughout, Michael privately notes her fatigue, nausea, and loss of appetite. He devises a desperate plan: If he is the one chosen to lead Jane out of life, his absence might save her. At 4:00 AM, he slips away to catch the early ferry.

Jane wakes alone, devastated, and returns to New York seriously ill, collapsing on her bathroom floor. She leaves Vivienne a voicemail: "Mom, it's me. Michael's left me. Please call me. I love you." Michael, back in the city, feels an outside force compelling him toward New York Hospital. He bursts into room 703, expecting Jane. The patient is Vivienne, who suffered a stroke.

Jane arrives and finds Michael holding her mother's hand. Vivienne apologizes for being harsh, explaining she pushed Jane to grow up strong rather than cold and conniving like Vivienne herself. She tells Jane, "You're the only person I ever loved, the only one. You're the love of my life." Jane weeps, having waited years to hear these words. Vivienne makes final requests, says goodbye, and gives Jane one last kiss.

At Vivienne's funeral, Michael tells Jane he now understands he was sent back to help her mother, not Jane herself. Jane points out that he is still here. Michael says he is staying because she is the only person he has ever loved. Before he can answer whether he will leave again, he clutches his chest and collapses with a heart attack. At the hospital, his colleague Blythe, a fellow imaginary friend, tells Jane that imaginary friends never get sick, making this unprecedented. When Michael wakes, Jane delivers the news: He has a real human heart. "You're human, Michael," she tells him. Michael quips that the reward of being human is getting to die, and Jane corrects him: "Live and die."

The story jumps to the premiere of the Thank Heaven film, with Michael playing himself on screen. In the epilogue, Michael sits in the Astor Court with their four-year-old daughter, Aggie. Jane returns with their one-year-old son, Jack. Michael whispers, "I missed you. I always miss you." Jane replies that they are all here, the four of them, and nothing is better. She dips a spoon into her sundae, hot fudge over coffee ice cream, and gives Jack his first taste.