Dream State

Eric Puchner’s Dream State (2025) is a novel that spans the intertwined lives of Cece, Garrett, and Charlie, the latter two of which are bound together by the tragic death of their college friend Elias. Charlie calls on Garrett to officiate his wedding to Cece but never expects how this will change his life. The narrative spans decades, alternating between the points of view of the three main characters and their children. Set in rural Montana, it probes the shifting but lasting bonds of friendship and also examines the roles of marriage and commitment.

Puchner is the author of two short story collections—Music Through the Floor (2007) and Last Day on Earth (2018)—as well as the novel Model Home (2010). All have received numerous awards and acclaim. Last Day on Earth won the 2018 Towson Prize for Literature. Music Through the Floor was a New York Times “Editors’ Choice” book and a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions’ Award. Model Home won the California Book Award for fiction and was a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. Dream State was selected as a “Book of the Week” by People magazine, was an Indie Next Pick, was an Oprah Book Club selection, and received a starred review from Kirkus Reviews and BookPage. Puchner, an associate professor at John Hopkins University, has been awarded a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

This guide refers to the 2025 hardcover edition published by Doubleday.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of illness, death, animal death, death by suicide, suicidal ideation, mental illness, addiction, substance use, and cursing.

Plot Summary

The novel opens in 2004 as Cece Calhoun and Charlie Margolis anticipate their wedding. Cece travels ahead of Charlie from their home in Los Angeles, California, to the family cottage in Salish, Montana, where Charlie spent his summers as a child. Cece is enchanted by the cottage and nearby Salish Lake but dismayed when she meets Charlie’s best friend from college, Garrett Meek—whom Charlie has asked to officiate their wedding. Cece finds Garrett to be a negative person and nothing like what Charlie described. Yet the two spend an increasing amount of time together in the few weeks before Charlie and the rest of his family and their guests arrive.

As the wedding day approaches, Cece becomes increasingly tense, though she cannot say why. Charlie senses this and becomes worried. At the same time, his father and then his mother contract norovirus. Garrett, meanwhile, delays meeting with Charlie when he arrives in town. The traumatic death of their friend Elias while the men were in college lingers between them. This, coupled with a mental health crisis that caused Garrett to be hospitalized, has left Garrett feeling distant from his best friend. He attends Charlie’s bachelor party, however, and after a night of excessive drinking, he composes an email to Cece in which he tells her that he is falling in love with her. Though he sends a second email a few hours later begging Cece not to read the first, Garrett must proceed with officiating the wedding as planned.

The mood on the wedding day is a dire one, as norovirus has swept through many of the guests and the Margolis family, including some of the wedding party. Charlie pulls Garrett aside and confesses that he is also coming down with the illness.

The narrative shifts forward in time to reveal that though the wedding ceremony took place, Cece quickly confessed to Charlie that she wanted to be with Garrett. Garrett and Cece married and remained in Salish, where they are raising their daughter, Lana. When Lana is a young child, Charlie invites the family to gather with him, his wife, and their children at the Margolis cottage. Charlie is eager to show Cece that he has moved on, but when she arrives, he immediately knows that he is not over Cece at all. Despite this, they settle into a new tradition whereby Garrett and Cece visit Charlie and his family at the lake once each summer.

Back in Los Angeles, however, Charlie’s young son, Jasper, begins to experience some health problems. It is discovered that he has a heart condition that requires a pacemaker to be implanted. As Jasper ages, he becomes self-conscious of the device, especially as an adolescent. He develops a friendship with Lana, and as the two become teenagers, they experiment sexually together. Meanwhile, Charlie’s marriage to Jasper’s mother ends.

Though Garrett has a career that he thrives in—working for a conservation agency that tracks endangered wildlife—Cece struggles to find a meaningful path. She dropped out of medical school, hoping to begin a PhD program, but since Garrett’s job keeps him away from Salish for extended periods, she finds herself working menial jobs and caring for Lana. She feels distant from Garrett and sometimes wonders if she made the right decision by choosing him over Charlie. She sometimes relishes the time when Garrett is away on fieldwork, craving the distance from him; at other times, she longs for the kind of closeness and intimacy they enjoyed early in their marriage. As time passes, Cece opens an independent bookstore. A big moment for the bookstore arrives when Cece lands a reading by her favorite writer, Gail Tippler. However, the event proves disastrous after Cece mistakenly takes an Ambien sleeping pill that she believes is an anti-anxiety medication. The night ends with Charlie notifying her that he is in town and inviting Cece to have a drink. It is later revealed that the two have sex that night at the Margolis cottage.

As Jasper approaches his college years, he battles drug addiction and pulls away from Charlie. Charlie works feverishly to help Jasper, shuttling him from one rehabilitation facility to the next. At one point, he takes Jasper on a skiing trip and invites Garrett along. For Garrett, the trip is fraught—not only have he and Charlie never confronted the end of Cece and Charlie’s relationship, but Garrett also continues to carry guilt for the death of Elias, who was killed by an avalanche when the three were skiing.

As the three main characters age, they continue to remain connected: Charlie marries and divorces, and Cece and Garrett continue to feel a rift between them. They continue to gather with the men’s group of college friends, though each year brings new health concerns for many of them. Jasper dies of a drug overdose, and Charlie is unsure whether this death is intentional. As they reach their seventies, Cece is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Somehow, this brings her and Garrett closer; though she no longer knows Garrett’s name, she is desperate to be in his company. They, along with Lana, make a final trip to the Margolis cottage one summer, and Cece seems to believe that the cottage is actually her home. On this trip, Charlie and Garrett finally address Charlie’s anger at Garrett for marrying Cece. Charlie has finally made peace with this event, admitting that Cece has had a meaningful life while married to Garrett.

As time passes, wildfires sweep through Montana, destroying the Margolis cottage and its surrounding orchards. The novel ends with a scene that flashes back to Cece and Charlie’s wedding day in 2004. As he officiates, Garrett invites the audience to imagine the future that Cece and Charlie will have together. He accurately predicts that Salish Lake and the Margolis cottage will play an important role in their future.