Chapters 1-5 show how the structure of the novel will function. Adam's present day struggles—and his current relationships with Bryn—are offset by flashbacks to his former relationship with Mia and the backstory on how his band formed, and then became a success. It seems amazingly coincidental that Mia is playing in New York the night he happens to be there, which ties in well to the questions of fate and destiny that eventually come to define their story. The importance of music to both Adam and Mia is almost as much of a character as they are, in the early chapters.