Martin And John weaves together a number of overlapping and contradicting stories, primarily revisiting the narrator's past sexual relationships, but increasingly offering a 'panorama of American gay men' (Independent). John's encounters range from his first girlfriend, a boy who fleetingly stays in his parents' home, his stepfather, and crucially, his long-term lover Martin, who tragically dies of AIDS. The remainder of this story maps out John's grief as he obsessively seeks a substitute for the one man he truly loved and lost.