The novel unfolds through Lily's first-person narrative, in chapters that alternate between "June," the end of Lily's and Hazel's sophomore year, and chapters that progress from the beginning of their sophomore year through to the end of the school year. Each return to the month of "June" reveals more about Lily's internal questioning about whether or not to remain at Vaughn. Lily's mother expresses concern about her daughter's friendship with Hazel, and Hazel's "completely different background," as do the girls that Lily once considered her friends. To her parents' chagrin, Lily goes home with Hazel for Christmas, to spend the holiday with Hazel's brother, Duncan, who raised her after their parents died when she was three years old. Now 29, Duncan, a gifted artist and photographer, guards his privacy as closely as Hazel does, but Lily immediately takes to Duncan's partner, Magnus. And both Magnus and Duncan, at different times during Lily's visit, make observations that stay with her. While attending a Christmas Eve party, when one of Duncan's friends says of the Vaughn School, "a friend of mine used to teach history there, it's great, isn't it?" and Lily answers with faint praise for her alma mater, Duncan says, "Maybe it's too small for you now." The ideas that Hazel and her family introduce work on Lily like a quiet catalyst. On Valentine's Day, Lily breaks up with her longtime boyfriend and popular jock, James "Kells" Keller. The backlash would be stinging if she cared about her so-called friends, the leader of whom says, "Apparently you don't want anything to do with anyone anymore. Except your ghetto friend." As Lily considers whether or not to stay at Vaughn for her years as an upper classman, she realizes that, like Hazel, she too keeps some things just for herself, such as sneaking out for her forbidden "nightswimming" in the river. Gradually, Lily comes to understand that she can change on the inside without changing everything on the outside.--Jennifer M. Brown