The novel opens with 17-year-old Julie James finding two letters beside her plate at breakfast. Her mother, Mrs. James, brought them in for her before the opening of Chapter 1. Julie, a high school senior, opens the envelope from Smith College to discover that she has been accepted. Her mother, an alumna of Smith, is excited but notes how Julie changed after a certain day last summer. Julie corrects her mother, clarifying that she did not break up with Raymond Bronson, but they decided to take a break that day. Internally, she becomes emotional about the event that led to this—their friend group accidentally hitting someone with a car and fleeing the scene.

Julie goes to her bedroom without eating, forgetting the other letter. She thinks about how she wants to keep the secret of the accident from her mother, but her mother is very observant. Then, she recalls when they redid her room in pink for her 16th birthday and the pink shirt she wore the night of the accident. Julie tries to calm herself and thinks about how the accident made her more serious over the past year. The thought of moving away to college steadies her, and she plans out who she will show her acceptance letter to, specifically her teachers and Bud, a man she is dating.