Paper Towns takes place in and around a fictional subdivision called Jefferson Park, located in suburban Orlando, Florida. The novel focuses on the narrator and protagonist, Quentin "Q" Jacobsen, and his neighbor, Margo Roth Spiegelman. As young children, Quentin and Margo one day discover the corpse of Robert Joyner, a divorced man who has committed suicide, in the park. Following this incident, the novel flashes forward to present-day Quentin and Margo, who are now high school students that have grown apart from each other. However, a month before their high school graduation, Margo shows up at Quentin's bedroom window with black face paint and clothes in the middle of the night. She has devised a revenge mission on a group of people who she feels have hurt her over the course of her high school career. The mission has eleven parts to it. Margo needs someone and more importantly, a car, to help her complete the tasks. So, she convinces Quentin to sneak out and help her seek revenge.