Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of sexual assault.

Fly Away is a sequel to Kristin Hannah’s Firefly Lane. A coming-of-age story, Firefly Lane spans Tully’s life from youth to adulthood, culminating in the death of her best friend, Kate Ryan. Tully meets Kate when they are both fourteen. Tully and her mother have just moved to Firefly Lane in Snohomish, Washington, into a house owned by Tully’s grandmother. Tully’s mother, who calls herself Cloud, is a neglectful, emotionally absent parent with a substance use disorder. Tully has previously been raised by her grandmother, but Cloud has recently re-entered Tully’s life. In a new town with no support system, Tully is raped at party one night. Kate Mularkey, a nerdy eighth grader whose house is across the street from Tully’s, becomes an unexpected confidant. This cements their friendship and the young teens become inseparable. Indeed, in both Firefly Lane and Fly Away, Tully frequently references hearing their names spoken as one word by others: KateandTully. They spend their days biking around Firefly Lane and enjoying the music and fashion trends of the day, as many suburban teens of the late 1970s and early 1980s did.

The friendship hits a bump in the road when Cloud is jailed, and Tully must return to her grandmother’s house.