From Tennessee's sunlit Smoky Mountains, to New York City during the Stonewall era, and ultimately to Paris, Five Minutes in Heaven follows a young woman named Jude - haunted by her dreams, ghosts, and longings - on an epic search for love, intimacy, and answers to questions she cannot allow herself to forget.

How can a childhood passion disappear in a puff of smoke...or a woman's beauty and intelligence mask her wounds and her capacity to betray? Is it possible to find a love that satisfies both the longings of the heart and the hungers of the flesh - and are there unseen forces guiding Jude through it all?

Five Minutes in Heaven takes up the histories of Molly, Jude's brave, indomitable childhood friend; Sandy, a gay man with a taste for danger; Anna, an infinitely desirable married woman; and Jasmine, a quintessentially elegant and enigmatic Parisienne.

With Molly, Jude experiences the tumults of childhood passion for a friend - a love that proves more fragile than anyone might have suspected. In New York City as a graduate student, she discovers barriers to intimacy she has tried to ignore. Stung, she finds refuge in love for a woman. Jude's journey finally takes her to Paris, down the twisting corridors of her own psyche, and finally to a richer understanding of herself.