Friendships have a funny way of getting under your skin. In Ambient Light seven friends navigate the tricky teenaged years by clinging to each other. But when Sebastian, the center of their universe, splits off from their pack of friends to live an openly gay life in San Francisco, he leaves his friends perplexed and floundering. The youthful magnetism he possessed infects his friends-Adie, Breck, Mary Clay, Tony, Jude and Grady-with his love of music, poetry, social engagement but, most of all, his passion for wild and crazy living. But just as their love for him continues to glow through the years, so does the undercurrent of resentment engendered by his abandonment of them. The six survivors carry Sebastian in their hearts like a talisman but with the caveat that inevitably they each must deal with the shackles of his influence, too.