In a twist of the romantic plot genre, Flynn titles these novel parts in reverse order. The traditional romance plot is: boy meets girl; boy loses girl; boy gets girl back again. Flynn reverses the first two plot elements here. The first part titled “Boy Loses Girl,” and describes Amy’s disappearance and the search for her. Part Two is titled “Boy Meets Girl” and explores Amy’s real personality. This section concerns Nick’s realization of exactly what Amy has done to him; Nick meets the real Amy for the first time.

In this part, Amy’s narration begins on the day she disappeared and moves forward in time from that point. Her chapters alternate with Nick’s narration, which begins with him entering the shed on Go’s property and continues forward in time from that point.

Amy reveals that she is alive and that she planned her own disappearance. She tells the story of her birth; she is the Elliotts’ sole surviving child after five stillbirths and two miscarriages. She feels special because she was able to make it when all of her sisters didn’t. She describes feeling like a “product” (222) to her parents, however, who gave her all the advantages, except for teaching her how to be happy and connect with people.