Content Warning: This section of the guide includes references to sexual abuse and coercion.

Evie is the protagonist and narrator of the novel. The narrative structure of the novel is told through Evie’s first-person point of view as she looks back on the summer of 1969 from her adulthood.

Evie is 14 years old in the summer of 1969. She is on the cusp of major changes in her life; she’s about to start high school and is being sent to boarding school. A typical teenager, Evie is self-conscious, confused about her identity, and searching for community. Evie’s internal conflicts are escalated by her parents’ divorce and their subsequent relationships with other people. Evie feels ignored and unseen by her parents. She is bored of her life and finds herself and her lifestyle terribly average. Evie’s life changes when she meets Suzanne, a young woman whose wild aesthetic communicates difference, daring, and excitement to Evie. Evie is immediately attracted to Suzanne, both attracted to her sexually and to the kind of person Suzanne is. Unlike Evie, Suzanne exudes confidence. In Suzanne, Evie sees a model for the kind of girl she wants to be.