 Never Among Friends is set in the present in Freehold, NJ, a small suburban town in central New Jersey. The story takes place over a number of weeks in early summer. The plot focuses on a group of four friends, but more specifically on the close friendship of the two main characters, Steve Wilson and Sean Ferrara. Steve and Sean have been friends since childhood. Steve goes to college and decides to become a writer. Sean has always had a love and a talent for the game of baseball, and his dream is to one day play professionally. He is recruited to the minor leagues immediately after high school and progresses rather quickly. Approximately a year and a half before the start of the movie, Sean and Steve are out together celebrating Steve s 21st birthday and Sean s advancement to the triple A s. They both spot Tracy Jones, an attractive young woman, across the bar. Both begin to advance towards her, but Sean gets to her first. Steve is disappointed. Sean and Tracy begin to date, and their relationship lasts through the beginning of the movie. Just over a year before the start of the film, Steve meets Jane Rumsfield, and the two start to date. They soon begin to see each other exclusively. Through Steve and Sean s friendship, Jane and Tracy become close friends. The four often spend time together. Throughout all of this, Steve harbors a secret infatuation for Tracy. Months before the beginning of the film, Sean is the victim of a serious car accident. He suffers a serious injury to his knee. Although it heals, it can easily be re-injured. His injury prevents him from continuing his baseball career. Sean is overcome with depression at the loss of his life-long dream and turns to alcohol. At the start of the film, he is in the early stages of alcoholism. He can barely hold down his job at a gas station. Steve, on the other hand, is doing well for himself. His relationship with Jane is great, and a publisher has picked up his first novel. Sean s behavior affects his relationship with Tracy, who feels neglected by Sean and grows frustrated with his shiftlessness. Steve tries to help Sean but finds himself frustrated by Sean s attitude as well. He consoles Tracy, who feels better with Steve than she has felt with Sean in quite some time. They both give in to their emotions and begin an affair that threatens to destroy the four friends  relationship.