Twice

Twice is an urban fantasy novel written by Mitch Albom and published in 2025. Mitch Albom is a renowned American author whose works blend philosophy, spirituality, and characters meant to emphasize the value of everyday life. Twice is a story of a man named Alfie who develops the magical ability to give himself second chances any time he says “twice.” His journey quickly shows him the consequences of his actions, demonstrating the dangers of Changing Fate and Interfering with Divine Design. The story explores Accepting One’s Life, Mistakes, and Mortality while also examining True Love’s Ability to Endure. Netflix acquired the rights to adapt Twice into a film in September 2025.

This guide is based on the 2025 HarperCollins edition of the novel.

Plot Summary

In August 1978, Gianna stood in a Philadelphia storm waiting to meet Alfie. She spots Alfie waving from a department store window and walks toward him. Forty years later, in Nassau, Bahamas, Alfie sits across from Detective Vincent LaPorta after winning two million dollars at roulette. Vincent is sure Alfie cheated because no one can guess three numbers by chance. Alfie stays calm, but when Vincent mentions Gianna and the money Alfie sent her, Alfie responds in an unusual way. He asks for his bag, pulls out a black marble notebook, and says all the answers are inside, along with a captivating love story.

In 1966, eight-year-old Alfie lived in Kenya with his parents after his mother decided she wanted to help the world by becoming a missionary. He spent his days with a local girl called Princess (Gianna) and an elephant from a nearby ranch. Alfie and Gianna dreamed of growing up together and would often play with the elephant. Alfie’s mother was bitten by a bug and passed away in Kenya. After she passed, Alfie fell into immediate grief, but he awoke the next day to find his mother alive and the same day repeating. His mother, sensing what happened, told him of the family gift, which is the power to live any moment twice. She warned him never to use it for greed and explained that the gift could not reverse death. When she died again, Alfie and his father moved back to the United States.

To process his grief, Alfie found comfort in music. One day, he used his gift to relive a moment of embarrassment when he was dared to knock on the door of a “witch,” and he learned he could use his power to change the way people saw him. Over time, he recorded each “second chance” in composition books, including fixing grades, helping friends, and facing endless death-defying acts to feel the exhilaration. Back in Nassau, Vincent mocks the story Alfie is telling, calling it fantasy or delusion. Alfie replies that Vincent will never find proof, because in this timeline, the events he is recounting never happened.

In his later years, Alfie spends much of his time thinking about love and those who have loved him. He used his gift to redo a first kiss at a make-out party where he froze and was mocked for it. He went back and forced himself to kiss the girl, only to regret giving that moment to someone he didn’t care about. He learned that changing events didn’t erase the truth of what really happened. Vincent presses him on why he never used his gift for money, but Alfie reminds him of his mother’s warning not to use it for greed.

In high school, Alfie’s father remarried a woman named Adeline, who erased all traces of Alfie’s mother. Unable to bear it, Alfie went back and stopped their meeting, injuring himself in the process. Years later, his father married someone kinder. Alfie also chased a crush named Jo Ann by reshaping himself to her liking, only to learn she was racist, and he no longer wanted her at all. When he tried to date another girl who showed interest before, she no longer did, showing that love could not be “redone” a second time. 

Alfie’s best friend Wesley later joined the Marines and died in an attack. Alfie went back to save him, but Wesley died again at the same moment, proving Alfie’s mother correct. After Wesley’s death, Alfie’s father took him to Florida to lift his spirits, and at the zoo, Alfie heard an elephant’s call. A photographer nearby turned out to be Gianna, his childhood friend from Kenya. They talked for hours, and when Gianna said she was attending Boston University, Alfie decided to follow her there, hoping to kindle their love.

Alfie tells Vincent that he’ll soon move into a nursing home due to a neurological illness. He knows he is going to have a stroke. While thinking of death, he recalls visiting his grandmother, Yaya Nina, after seeing Gianna again in Florida. Yaya told him that no love could ever be perfect, and that the power to relive a moment could not be used to fix broken love. She revealed she had the same gift and used it once to change her relationship to another man, but it failed, as the man no longer wanted her. 

At university, Alfie followed Gianna, hoping to win her love. She dated someone named Mike instead, and while Alfie and Gianna stayed friends, they never connected deeply at school. One summer day in Philadelphia, they held hands at the zoo, but a drunk driver hit Alfie’s father that same day. Alfie went back to stop the accident, but it meant never having that moment with Gianna.

Alfie turned to empty affairs, only to regret them and erase what he could. He and Gianna eventually reunited during a storm in Philadelphia when he begged her to meet up again. The power went out during the storm, and they became trapped in the revolving doors, where Alfie confessed his love and gave Gianna an elephant necklace. They kissed through the glass, and their love story fully began. After college, they moved to New York; they shared a small apartment and were enamored with one another. Alfie told Gianna about his gift, but she didn’t believe him, adding that she wouldn’t change the past even if she could. Alfie went back two minutes and erased the confession.

After both Alfie and Gianna were rejected in their artistic pursuits (his music and her photography), they decided to escape the city for a day and ended up in a small Pennsylvania town. There, an elderly storekeeper officiated their marriage, using a toy ring Alfie bought from the counter. For a time, they found happiness, but years later, Alfie’s ambitions and his secret gift strained their relationship. He used his power selfishly and went against his mother’s and Yaya’s advice. Although his writing career briefly flourished after he saved a runner during a robbery, it only led to further downfall. His story was made into a film, and he ended up in a flirtatious situation with the lead actor. Gianna later had a miscarriage and blamed Alfie for taking her to the party that led to her food poisoning. Alfie and Gianna soon separated and then divorced.

Meanwhile, in Nassau, Detective Vincent continues his investigation into Alfie’s gambling win and reads from the composition notebook. He struggles to believe Alfie’s claims, but curiosity drives him to keep reading. Vincent contacts witnesses, interviews croupiers, and questions Gianna’s role, uncovering contradictions that could only be explained by Alfie’s gift. As Alfie’s story reveals his guilt, loss, and failed attempts to rewrite fate, Vincent becomes increasingly drawn into the mystery. When Vincent confronts Gianna, she shocks him by insisting she was never married to Alfie at all, convincing Vincent that Alfie is mentally unwell.

After the separation, Alfie spent months drifting from place to place, drinking heavily and tempting death as he had in childhood. He returned to Kenya and found his old village unchanged. To his amazement, the elephant he had befriended as a boy was still alive and remembered him. The reunion reminded Alfie of his youth, before the burden of reliving time. When he came back to New York, he hoped to reconcile with Gianna but discovered she was with her former college boyfriend Mike. Alfie reversed time to avoid the humiliation and fell back into an affair with Nicolette. His later years were defined by regret and solitude, as he realized that his choices had cost him the life and love he truly wanted.

Meanwhile, in Nassau, Detective Vincent continues investigating Alfie’s story and presses Gianna for answers. She insists they were never married and that Alfie is only her assistant, suffering from delusions caused by illness. As Vincent reads the notebook, he watches Gianna’s disbelief give way to sorrow as she finally recognizes that the “Boss” Alfie wrote to is her, and that Alfie has been there for her through everything in her life. Gianna accepts Alfie’s request and meets Alfie at the Queen’s Staircase, where he confesses his lifelong love before his stroke. Gianna can’t bear the thought of living without Alfie and wishes for time to be reversed. In the epilogue, it is now Gianna who holds the gift. She relives their 1978 meeting and encourages Alfie to give her the elephant necklace, and they kiss, completing and restarting the love built across lifetimes.