Gerald starts playing with the lighter and ignites the curtains on fire. The flames start spreading throughout the entire kitchen. Gerald wakes up in a hospital where he starts asking the nurse for his mama. A few minutes later, Gerald’s Aunt Queen arrives at the hospital. She later claims that she is going to become Gerald’s new legal guardian. The two obtain a great relationship, but little does Gerald know that his whole world will be turned around for the worst.

Before Miles “Pudge” Halter is done with his safe life at home, his whole life has been one big non-event. His obsession with famous last words has only made him crave “the Great Perhaps” even more (Francois Rabelais, poet). He heads off to the sometimes crazy and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Why? Down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, self-destructive, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young. She is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.