Two gay teens. Alone, they're trapped. Together, they're exposed.
Sixteen-year-old John Paul lives under the unforgiving rules of a Catholic upbringing, hiding who he is. Jayme, also sixteen, is pushed by his extreme leftist parents to become transgender.
In the refuge of a used bookstore, the two gay teens bond over a historical book, Ancient Pride. It tells about forbidden love of prominent gay figures of the past, but in the present it sparks something more dangerous.
The boys' connection is discovered and promptly tested by the extremes of their families' control. John Paul is confined to a Catholic "therapy center," where he lives as the home's first-and only-patient. Jayme is thrust into his father's political campaign as a liberal prop. Every choice to claim their identities draws them deeper into danger.
And soon, the only thing standing between them and disaster, coming of age fiction, is the love they find in each other and the lessons found in Ancient Pride.