In the spring of 2002,childhood friends, Violet Monroe and Terran Ingram are headed home from their first year in college. It has been an eventful year; Terran has become the new beauty queen on campus and Violet well....Then of course there was the 9/11 attack on America. Both are returning home with thoughts of reuniting with their other best friend, Joey, very rich and underachieving and madly in love with Terran. Their hopes of a carefree summer are dashed forever by the events that take place. Violet is forced to re-examine her world. She discovers cold truths about the state of her parent's marriage. She watches Terran submit to her mother's ambitions by suppressing her misery in a twisted romance with Joey. Both learn that despite having been in love with Terran for years She is not what Joey really wants. With the help of Brandon, Joey's charismatic cousin, who is visiting for the summer, Violet begins to understand the nature of choices. Things change and relationships die.