Lost to Alice is a young adult novel that explores the dangers of recreational drugs. The story follows four high school seniors in 1996: Aria, Chase, Jonah, and Jude. It begins when Aria moves in with her aunt and twin adopted cousins after the death of her parents. Jonah is the town's go-to drug connection, while Jude is the town’s golden boy. Aria and Chase begin dating, the group navigates plenty of ’90s high school drama, and then the narrative jumps ahead five years.

By then, Chase has returned to town as a police officer, while the other three are more or less in the same place he left them. During the story, we meet Garrett, a man who took a new anti-anxiety medication and altered it to create a drug called Alice. In small doses, it poses no threat—but in large doses, it can turn even the kindest man into a raging, seemingly unkillable manic.