The extremes of ambition are explored in Tender is the Night. All the characters are fiercely driven, some to escape treacherous, maddening pasts, others to reach the tops of the glamorous professions to which they are called. Some characters watch as their greatest hopes and biggest dreams fly out the window, or explode in a burst of pain. Others surprise us when their most unreasonable expectations of life are fulfilled. Sometimes things do go according to plan, with both disastrous and beautiful results. And sometimes, just as one dream falls by the wayside, a new one rises to take its place.