In a psychologist’s office, teenage boy Max says he wishes he could just be normal, but
this is impossible. The reason why his whole face is covered in bandages is that he was born with a
face so amazingly beautiful that it kills anyone that sees it. At least it isn’t a painful death,
since they usually are happy to have seen his pretty face. Max shares the story of his birth,
explaining he killed the nurses and the doctor of the hospital that saw his face, but luckily
his parents are immune to their son’s beauty. The studies made that day revealed that his face is so
beautiful that it causes a surge in hormones that immediately ends a person's life. For this reason,
the family had to move to a small town and take as many precautions as possible, like deciding to
homeschool Max to protect him and the other kids. Unfortunately this resulted in Max growing up
lonely and very sheltered, he’s also awkward when interacting with people. His hobby is unusual too:
he likes to do embroidery. The psychologist doesn't believe the story and forces Max to reveal
his face. Suddenly, Max’s parents hear a strange noise coming from the psychologist’s office. When
they rush inside, they find Max putting on his bandages again and the psychologist dead on the
floor. Soon the police show up and warn the parents that they can’t keep ignoring these
deaths as accidents, so Max should be more careful or he’ll end up in jail. While the adults talk,
Max sees a brick and picks it up to bring home. Later at his house, Max’s parents tell him they
don’t like him being at home all day and ask Max’s only friend Dan to sign him up on a dating app,
which annoys Max. Afterward in his room, Max asks Dan to hit him with the brick so he can stop being
deadly beautiful. When Dan gets too distracted by his phone and the notifications from his dating
apps, Max throws it to the ground, causing Dan to hit him like he wanted. Max ends up in the
hospital with his mother, and in the waiting room, the mom reads in a magazine that they’re looking
for families to be hosts for exchange students, which could be a chance to bring another teen to
the house for Max to have a friend. Max hates the idea and goes looking for another magazine, only
to find the rack empty. A girl named Alex has the last magazine and decides to share it with him,
prompting the two teens to chat for a while before Max is called by the doctor. Sometime later,
Dan decides to try to cheer Max up by getting him a blind date. They meet the girl at the
restaurant and Dan does some chatting to break the ice, but as soon as he leaves, things become
incredibly awkward. The girl is clearly wary of his appearance, so to appear more friendly,
Max gifts her a handkerchief that he embroidered with her name. Things are starting to look better
but suddenly some noises warn them that Craig is causing trouble in the restaurant. The guy
suddenly approaches their table and sits with them with the intention of flirting with the girl,
but he sees Max’s bandages and realizes he’s the guy from the deadly stories. He’s very rude
and intimidating, so Max tries to leave to avoid trouble, accidentally knocking their drinks when
he stands up. Craig throws the handkerchief in the liquid to make fun of Max and keeps pressuring
him to reveal his face, going as far as pushing him against the table to oblige him. Thankfully
the restaurant staff uses that moment to finally kick Craig out. Then Max asks the girl for another
date, but she’s now scared of his face and turns him down. After such a disastrous date, Max thinks
he’ll never have a normal life and goes to the nearest bridge to try to end things. Suddenly Alex
shows up and teases him for what he’s doing, which starts a conversation about his life, candy, and
Max’s dream of swimming in a tub of jelly beans. In order to distract him, Alex invites Max to come
with her and they take a bus to a retirement home, where he’s introduced to Rosemary and Esther,
two old ladies that have terminal conditions. However they are still very lively, and the
four of them have a wonderful afternoon together. While sharing tea and snacks, they learn Esther
is trying to write one more book before she dies, but it’s hard because of her Alzheimer’s. After
leaving the retirement home, Alex walks Max home, and Max wonders if they can see each other again,
but Alex says no. Sometime later, Max is hanging out with Dan, who tells Max that he shouldn’t give
up. Since Max can’t look for Alex on social media because he doesn’t know her surname, Dan thinks
he should hang around the spots he saw her at and try to bump into her. That night, Max makes
an embroidery design about the bridge moment. The next morning Max decides to return to the bus stop
and realizes Alex missed her ride on purpose. Alex is a bit wary of him at first, but then she agrees
to have fun together. They go to the store and buy lots of jelly beans to fill the tub in Max’s
bathroom, finally fulfilling his dream. Prompted by this, Alex confesses she would love to swim in
a river of jello. While enjoying the candy bath, Max finally lets her know about his deadly face,
but Alex already suspected he was the guy from the stories. In return, Alex explains she has a rare
cardiovascular disease that makes her allergic to endorphins. Excitement causes inflammation,
and that causes her heart to grow. Then Alex shows that under her jacket she must always
wear a monitor that tracks her heart’s size, and explains her body rejects emotions. For now,
she’s on an experimental medication to solve it. Hearing all this makes Max feel he finally has
someone that understands his situation. Afterward, they go to watch a movie and get drunk during it,
laughing at any single detail. Then they go to Max’s home and Alex gets to admire his embroidery,
which makes her ask him to make a design of her someday. Suddenly Alex comes too close to him
and takes off his sunglasses, which scares Max for a second. Fortunately his eyes alone can’t
kill people, and now the two teens are having a sweet moment that could end with a kiss.
Unfortunately at that moment Max’s parents arrive and ruin the moment. The teens quickly pull apart,
but the parents can tell what’s going on and are in shock. Max’s mother is so happy that
Max finally met a girl that she hugs Alex. The parents also introduce them to Yu Shen,
an exchange student that will be living with them from now on, she’s also brought a cat with her.
However she’s pretty antisocial and ignores the family most of the time. Even at dinner time,
she orders her own food so she can eat alone. From then on, Max and Alex begin hanging out together
all the time, and they often visit the retirement home to have tea or play games with Rosemary and
Esther. One day the teens decide to go on a camping trip, and Max has an argument with his
parents, who make him take Yu Shen with them. The next day, the group leaving for the forest ends
up being composed of Max, Alex, Yu Shen, Dan, and his latest date. As always Yu Shen ignores them,
but the others have lots of fun exploring and taking pictures. When Alex accidentally hurts
her hand with a branch, Max cuts some of his face bandages to wrap up her wound, which makes Alex’s
heart beat a little faster. Later in the evening, they set up camp, and Dan and his girl hide under
a blanket for some privacy while Yu Shen sleeps. Max decides to follow Dan's example and throws a
blanket over himself and Alex, then prepares a surprise. He tells her to close her eyes before
he covers them with a bandage, next he grabs her hands to make him touch his face and have an idea
of how he looks. Max confesses he killed the girl that gave him his first kiss because she broke the
rule and opened her eyes, so Alex comforts him by kissing him before leaving the blanket. Some days
later, Alex calls Max to tell him they can’t see each other today because her mother needs
her to help with some chores around the house. Afterward, Max’s mom asks him to get rid of their
old Christmas tree, so Max takes it out with the help of Dan. Meanwhile Yu Shen is having a smoke,
and when she throws away her cigarette, she accidentally lights the tree on fire. Dan and
Max rush to try to put it off and Dan accidentally gets his hands burned, so they take him to the
hospital. Once Dan has had his hands taken care of, the boys try to leave, only to bump into Alex
and her mom. It turns out Alex lied and she’s been here all day. The boys try to introduce
themselves, but Alex tells her mom that they’re just coworkers from the retirement home and they
leave without another word. The next day, Max goes shopping with his dad and wonders how he can tell
if he’s in love. The dad tells him he knows his son likes Alex, but it may not be obvious to her,
so he should tell her directly. In the afternoon, Alex and Max hang out again,
and Alex explains she had to lie yesterday because her mother doesn’t like her having friends,
thinking too much excitement may kill her. Her mother only approves of the retirement home
because it’s a boring place. Afterward they visit the retirement home and are devastated to learn
that Rosemary is dying. They visit her in her room and discover she’s being kept alive by machines,
which disgusts Alex because she thinks people should be allowed to die with dignity. She asks
Max to show his face to Rosemary so she can die in peace, and when Max refuses,
so Alex leaves alone. Thinking about how Rosemary is suffering, Max changes his mind and returns to
the room, where he calls Rosemary’s name. As she opens her eyes, he starts removing his bandages,
and Rosemary realizes what’s happening so he never stops him, dying with a soft smile on her
face. After this incident, Alex stops answering Max’s messages, and he doesn’t know what to do.
His parents try to offer some advice, but this only ends in an argument and Max leaves to hang
out with Dan. His friend has big news: there will be a party at the local school, and Dan thinks Max
should go even if he’s homeschooled. Max is too nervous to do anything, so Dan takes his phone and
sends Alex a message to invite her to the dance. Since he doesn’t get an answer, Max goes to Alex’s
home to ask why she’s ignoring him. Alex confesses that the experimental medicine isn’t working, and
her heart keeps growing larger and larger. They argue over the fact she’s been pushing him away,
but Max stays supportive, and Alex finally accepts to go to the dance with him. On the day of the
party, Alex shows up with two funny costumes she got from the adult store: she’ll be going as a
maid, and for Max she got a dog mask and a horn so he can be a horn dog. When they arrive at the
school, they have lots of fun dancing and flirting together. At first the music is fast and catchy,
but then it changes into a slow romantic tune that brings them closer. This intense moment makes
Alex’s heart start beating dangerously fast and it makes her nose bleed, so she rushes out to take
care of it. While Max waits, he hangs out with Dan and his date, but the moment is interrupted when
Craig comes over to bother them. He’s jealous that Dan is dating his ex and wants revenge for what
happened at the restaurant, so while his friends grab Dan, Craig grabs Max and takes off his mask,
which immediately kills Dan’s date. People start panicking while the police arrive to arrest Max,
putting a bag over his head. On his way out, he notices Alex is being taken away by an ambulance.
That night Max is kept in a cell. The next morning Max is freed and he goes to the hospital where
Alex’s mom hugs him to share the pain. Then Max visits Alex and learns that she had lied the
entire time. She had been minimizing her illness: it turns out she actually has a terminal condition
and she has known since she was a child that she would die around this age. Alex only has a few
days left and hates being connected to a machine at the hospital, so she asks Max to reveal his
face for her. Max refuses because he doesn’t want to see her die and snaps at her, explaining he’s
watched people die all his life and it’s taken a toll on him. Then he leaves, refusing to hear her
any longer. When Max gets home, he feels so upset that he uses the brick to get plastic surgery,
but his parents immediately come to stop him. They hold him while he has a breakdown, but
when the bandages slip down, he accidentally kills Yu Shen’s cat. In the following days, Max ignores
all of Alex’s messages. Sometime later, Max joins Dan to pay their respects for the dead girl. Dan
is grieving yet he still takes a moment to scold Max for ignoring Alex, making him see that he’ll
miss the chance to say goodbye. The next day Max visits Alex at the hospital and covers the wall
with his embroidery as a way to apologize, he also shows her he made a design of her. Alex’s
condition is getting worse, so Max lies down next to Alex and removes his bandages, then they close
their eyes as they share a kiss, expecting the worst to happen. When Max opens his eyes, he’s
shocked to see Alex is still alive, however she’s so incredibly happy about finally seeing the real
Max that her heart can’t take it and she still dies. At least she has a smile on her face as she
remembers all the time she spent with Max. Later, Max attends Alex’s funeral, feeling completely
devastated by the loss of the only girl that ever cared for him. Afterward he goes to the bridge,
bringing an envelope with Alex’s name on it. Inside the envelope he puts jello powder, then he
throws it into the river so Alex’s dream can come true. After Alex’s death, Max returns to therapy
and begins honoring the things Alex’s taught him. He continues to visit the retirement home to keep
Esther company, and the police free him and Craig of all charges because the death of the girl was
seen as a natural cause. This case becomes famous though and Max begins getting lots of letters
from dying people asking for his help. Max begins understanding that death sometimes is necessary,
and he begins visiting the people that write him in order to help them reach peace with a painless
death. Max also discovers that Alex didn’t die because true love gave her immunity, which is
also the reason why his parents never died either. Since Dan is Max’s one true friend, Max can start
hanging out with him without wearing the bandages. However he needs to be careful because one day he
forgets his face is uncovered and opens the door, accidentally killing a visiting Craig.