"Emma Saylor doesn't remember a lot about her mother, who died when Emma was twelve. But she does remember the stories her mom told her about the big lake that went on forever, with cold, clear water and mossy trees at the edges. Now it's just Emma and her dad, and life is good, if a little predictable...until Emma is unexpectedly sent to spend the summer with her mother's family that she hasn't seen since she was a little girl. When Emma arrives...

Sydney's charismatic older brother, Peyton, has always been the center of attention in the family but when he is sent to jail, Sydney struggles to find her place at home and the world until she meets the Chathams, including gentle, protective Mac, who makes her feel seen for the first time.

The summer following her father's death, Macy plans to work at the library and wait for her brainy boyfriend to return from camp, but instead she goes to work at a catering business where she makes new friends and finally faces her grief.

Isolated from friends who believe the worst because she has not been truthful with them, sixteen-year-old Annabel finds an ally in classmate Owen, whose honesty and passion for music help her to face and share what really happened at the end-of-the-year party that changed her life.

Following her parents' bitter divorce, moving from town to town with her father, seventeen-year-old Mclean reinvents herself at each school she attends.

Halley's junior year of high school includes the death of her best friend Scarlett's boyfriend, the discovery that Scarlett is pregnant, and Halley's own first serious relationship.

Fifteen-year-old Colie, a former fat girl, spends the summer working as a waitress, staying with her overweight and eccentric Aunt Mira, and trying to explore her sense of self.

Peyton, el carismático hermano de Sydney, ha sido siempre la estrella de la familia. Pero su comportamiento cada vez más imprudente acabará en una condena de cárcel. Sydney no entiende que sus padres se preocupen tanto por Peyton y tan poco por la víctima del accidente. Desconcertada por su actitud, se refugia en los Chatham, en especial en el protector hermano mayor, Mac.