The story 

The musical starts with biker and rock fan Strat recalling his first encounter with rock and roll (‘Love and Death and an American Guitar’) before his DNA froze causing him to remain 18 forever. The story is set in the dystopian city of Obsidian, once known as Manhattan. Strat and his friends are all frozen in time. They are Tink, Blake, Ledoux, Jagwire, Zahara and like to call themselves ‘The Lost’. They  protest outside Falco Towers, the residence of the Obsidian’s tyrant Falco. His only teenage daughter, Raven, falls for Strat, but she lives like a recluse and resents her dad for forbidding her from going outside. Strat also falls in love with Raven from a magazine with her image on it. Raven eagerly asks his mum Sloane about ‘The Lost’, so her mother tells her that a chemical warfare and an earthquake occurred in this city 25 years before. Those teenagers were trapped in a tunnel filled with poison which didn’t kill them, but froze their genes causing them to remain 18 forever. Sloane encourages Raven to not make the mistakes she made and that she wants her to be free and to be able to fall in love.

One night Strat manages to go into Raven’s room and takes her on his motorbike and they escape, but Raven has second thoughts about going with him because she is afraid her father might kill Strat. Strat then drives his motorbike at full speed and has a crush that severely injures and seemingly kills him. Raven breaks down upon hearing this.  ‘The Lost’ are still shocked to have lost their leader and they all admit that their lives are a mess. Meantime Zahara secretly looks after Strat who had miraculously survived his accident. She transfuses Raven’s blood into Strat, enabling him to become mobile again. He then reunites with Raven. To celebrate their leader’s comeback, ‘The Lost’ welcome him “back from the dead” and hold a “wedding”. They attempt to consummate their relationship, only to be interrupted by a jealous Tink (Strat’s gay friend) who urges Strat to send Raven back to Falco. Strat refuses, and Tink vows to get rid of Raven while lamenting his love for Strat. He goes to Falco and offers him a deal: he will take him to Raven, in exchange that no one gets hurt and that he will leave ‘The Lost’ alone after he gets Raven back. When Falco bursts in at The Lost’s party there’s a scuffle, which abruptly ends with Tink’s accidental death. Raven is left with no choice but to return home to Falco Towers where she furiously blames her father for ruining her life.

Six months later, realising she is still in love with Strat, Raven rekindles her feelings for him, and so does Sloane when she returns to Falco to rekindle their marriage. Raven suddenly has second thoughts about their relationship, because after being apart for so long, she’s realised that they cannot be together. When Strat asks her why she reveals that unlike him, she is not frozen. She will age normally while he remains young forever. Strat tells Raven that he doesn’t care if she gets old, because she will always be 18 in his eyes and he will always love her no matter what.

The finale is great and not corny at all: Strat and Raven, Falco and Sloane, and Zahara and Jagwire make vows to their respective partners. During this song, Falco is forced at gunpoint into a lake by Zahara, where he emerges several seconds later dressed in a rock style outfit.