Nicholas grows up without a mother and eventually learns the truth about his biological father, which helps him make sense of his own struggles with love, and his thirst for death. Oliver grows up living a charmed life, clueless about the dysfunction of his own family. Nicholas and Oliver's lives are intertwined, and their paths intersect more and more as Nicholas destroys everything that comes between him and his one true love.

Oliver struggles with his sexual identity and finds himself falling in love with the wrong guys. His rollercoaster of sexual escapades has him questioning everything and everyone as he comes to terms with who he truly loves. The ultimate question he faces is who will be "the one."

The Garden of Death is the story about two boys who grow up wrestling with their identities. While they share a father, they each cope with life differently, and in the end, they both discover that love was right in front of them the entire time.