Harriet reminisces about a luxurious cottage in Knott’s Harbor, Maine. The rocky coast, smell of evergreens, cold pull of the ocean, and her dearest friends Sabrina and Cleo make this seaside cottage Harriet’s happy place.

The novel flashes back to the past. The three friends met in college. Pre-law student Sabrina is a Manhattan heiress with a high fashion sense and love for the horror genre. Painter Cleo had a passion for organic foods. Harriet was pre-med; she chose the college because it gave her the best financial aid. Before meeting Sabrina and Cleo, Harriet never had close friends, and had “never been loud” (3). Harriet grew up in a quiet, reserved household, where shouting indicated not joy but conflict between her parents and her much older, rebellious sister Eloise. With Sabrina and Cleo, she could bask in silence or happy noise. Harriet couldn’t imagine being happier than in college with them, until they went to Sabrina’s family’s summer home in Maine—or until she met Wyn.

In the present, flying from California to Maine for the friends’ annual summer vacation, Harriet listens to a meditation podcast about envisioning your happy place, picturing the seaside cottage.