At age 28, Sally looks back on the events following Kathy’s death. She recalls police telling her parents that Kathy’s death in the car accident was instantaneous.

In a flashback to the crash scene on Main Street, Billy leans over Kathy’s body and shouts her name. Sally asks if Kathy is dead, but Billy, bleeding himself, tells her not to look and to get help. Sally runs to a nearby house where a woman has already called 911. When Sally returns, police and EMTs are at the scene, trying to pull Billy away from Kathy’s body. An EMT checks Sally in an ambulance and confirms she is physically uninjured just as she sees her parents running toward her. A police officer, whom Sally recognizes as her former soccer coach “Jelly Roll,” questions her. Sally worries that the police think the accident was Billy’s fault. Sally believes it was her fault for making Billy drive her to school. The family is then taken to the police station and finally to the town morgue. Sally’s mother demands to see Kathy, but a doctor refuses. Instead, he presents two gold hoop earrings for identification. Richard fails to recognize them, but Sally confirms they belong to her sister. Susan screams and collapses, and the doctor gives the earrings to Sally. The drive home is silent until Richard, enraged at a red light, runs it and angrily threatens to kill Billy if he survives his injuries. At home, Sally places Kathy’s earrings in her jewelry box.

In another flashback, Sally remembers her First Communion. During confession, she admitted to dipping her hand in her grandfather’s urn to keep a part of him with her. Her Grandmother had caught her doing it and slapped her. Later, in the car on the way to the church, Sally told her family that she disliked her grandmother.

Sally refuses to speak at Kathy’s funeral, where others describe her sister as an angel. During the reception at their house, guests blame Billy for the crash. Sally interjects, claiming that Kathy begged Billy to speed. Her father yells at her and sends her to her room, where she stares at the glow-in-the-dark stars on their shared ceiling. Sally learns that Billy, a former star basketball player, could not attend the funeral due to his extensive injuries; he sends the family an apologetic letter from the ICU. Sally logs onto Kathy’s account and begins a secret online correspondence with Billy. Her parents argue over whether to sue Billy—Richard wants to press charges, but Susan is hesitant. Sally and Billy bond over their shared grief, finding the clichés spoken about Kathy at the funeral uncomfortable. Billy tells Sally he has nightmares about the deer he swerved to avoid.

Three weeks later, Sally returns to school. Classmates treat her with unusual kindness. Peter Heart, her fifth-grade boyfriend, gives her his history notes, and her teacher, Mr. Klein, assigns her a report on the guillotine. Another classmate, Valerie, gives her notes from health class. Sally has an angry outburst at Rick Stevenson at the bus stop. Online, Billy reveals that steel rods have been placed in his leg, ending his basketball career, and that he has undergone facial reconstructive surgery. One day, Susan finds Sally wearing one of Kathy’s shirts and suggests she buy new clothes. Soon after, Sally has Valerie pierce her ears.

Billy abruptly stops coming online, and Sally worries for weeks. On what would have been Kathy’s 17th birthday, her friend Priscilla visits and tells Sally that Billy attempted suicide by overdosing on painkillers. Billy reappears online a week later. He apologizes for scaring her and tells her he has started reading classic literature. Sally tells her parents, and they invite Billy and his parents to their house. The new white couch, which Susan ordered before the accident, is delivered just before they arrive. Billy and his family sit on the white couch in the Holts’ living room. Billy’s jaw is wired shut, and he communicates with a whiteboard that reads, “I’M SO SORRY.” Richard agrees not to press charges but forbids the Barnes family from ever contacting them again. As he leaves, Billy gives Sally a final, meaningful look.

That summer, Sally’s parents send her to a therapist named Lydia. Sally messages Billy, and they begin having secret, nightly phone conversations once his jaw is unwired. One night, Richard catches Sally on the phone with Billy. He takes the phone, threatens legal action, and then yells at Sally, telling her that Kathy no longer has a boyfriend. At a gas station mini-mart, Sally sees Billy with a new girl, Karen, and becomes so sick with jealousy that she vomits. At home, Richard becomes withdrawn and angry, buying a red leather “Man Chair” and beginning to sleep in it. Sally starts writing short stories as an outlet.

On the way to a dentist appointment, Sally and Susan pass the accident site, and Susan grieves openly. At the dentist’s office, Susan reveals to Sally that she gave up an art school scholarship in Paris because she was pregnant with Kathy. As summer ends, Priscilla invites Sally to the Aldan Day Carnival, and Sally brings Valerie along. At Valerie’s house, Sally borrows a pair of bone earrings.

At the carnival, Sally is shocked to find Billy, now with a lip ring, operating the Hurricane ride. He invites her into the control booth and lets her help run the ride. Karen arrives and reveals she’s Billy’s new girlfriend. Feeling upset, Sally walks away. Priscilla finds her and takes her to a nearby field to meet some boys, confirming that Billy and Karen have been dating all summer. Priscilla gives Sally rum, and Sally kisses a boy in a Sprite T-shirt but finds the experience underwhelming. Later, at Valerie’s house, the two girls discuss their disappointing kissing experiences, and Sally falls asleep listening to Valerie’s recording of a dishwasher.