New York City, 1949. When nine-year-old Otto Weber arrives from post-war Germany, he has nothing but his father, a suitcase, and the understanding that survival depends on staying unnoticed. Then Isabelle Montgomery notices him. The daughter of a prominent garment industry family, Isabelle grows up surrounded by privilege, beauty, and opportunity. Otto grows up watching from the edges of her world. Yet somehow, through childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood, their lives become impossible to separate. As the years pass, they become each other's confidants, witnesses, rivals, rescuers - and sometimes, each other's greatest disappointments. No matter how far life pulls them apart, they always find their way back. Whether that is a gift or a punishment, neither of them can say. Otto & I: Part One is the story of a friendship that refuses to stay a friendship, a love that never quite lets go, and two lives shaped forever by each other's presence.
