Protagonist Isabel “Belly” Conklin and her family are on their way to their yearly summer vacation at Cousins Beach. Belly, impatient to arrive, encourages her brother, Steven, to drive faster. Belly and their mother annoy Steven by singing along to the radio, reminding Belly that Steven is now often outnumbered on their family outings because of their parents’ divorce.

Belly feels nostalgic and hopeful as she recognizes all of the familiar places surrounding Cousins Beach: “It was like coming home after you’d been gone a long, long time. It held a million promises of summer and of what just might be” (2). Belly stares out the window, daydreaming about the summer to come, when Steven interrupts her by asking whether she is thinking about Conrad. Their mother interjects, asking if Belly still has a crush on Conrad, especially since it seems there might be something between her and Jeremiah. Belly, embarrassed and annoyed, tells them both to stop.

Belly explains that Conrad and Jeremiah Fisher are the sons of her mother’s lifelong best friend, Susannah “Beck” Fisher. Belly recalls that when she was born, Susannah said that she knew Belly was “destined for one of her boys” (4) and that she would hate for them to end up with anyone other than Belly.