Clementine joins colleagues for a Michelin-starred lunch at the Olive Branch to recruit chef James Ashton for a book deal.

Clementine wakes to a stranger in her apartment who knows her name and claims her aunt arranged the visit.

Clementine spots a calendar from seven years earlier on the wall and realizes the apartment has transported her to the past.

Wanting to live in a world where her aunt is still alive, Clementine tells the stranger Iwan he can stay.

Iwan cooks dinner for the first time and gives Clementine the nickname Lemon as the two begin to genuinely connect.

Clementine rediscovers her old watercolor painting supplies and begins painting inside a travel guide in her aunt's bathtub.

The apartment returns to the present and Clementine searches online for Iwan without finding anything about him.

Drew announces that James Ashton submitted a book proposal, and Rhonda assigns Clementine to lead the publishing bid.

Clementine reads James Ashton's famous article on the subway and recognizes him as Iwan from a photo.

As he leaves the Strauss and Adder meeting, Iwan calls Clementine by her old nickname Lemon, confirming he remembers her.

Clementine sneaks into the Olive Branch kitchen and confronts Iwan, convincing him to reconsider Strauss and Adder's rejected publishing offer.

Clementine visits Vera and discovers Iwan is Vera's son after recognizing him in a joyful photo on the wall.

At the soft opening of Iwan's restaurant Hyacinth, Clementine confronts him about how much he has changed and they fight.

Clementine tells Rhonda she is no longer happy and gives two weeks' notice, quitting without any future plans in place.

Iwan finds Clementine at the Met on her birthday, brings her sunflowers, and the two confess their love.

Clementine West is a grieving, overworked publicist who inherits her late aunt's apartment and discovers it transports her seven years into the past. There she meets Iwan, a passionate young chef subletting the apartment, and slowly begins to rediscover herself through their unexpected connection. When the apartment snaps back to the present, she loses Iwan entirely—only to find him again as the famous chef James Ashton, whose book her publishing house is desperate to acquire. The Iwan she meets in the present has changed dramatically, and Clementine must wrestle with loving both the man she knew and the man he has become. After confronting him at his restaurant opening and quitting a job that no longer makes her happy, Clementine starts living for herself for the first time. Iwan finds her on her birthday and, with a renovated restaurant that blends who he was with who he is, the two finally confess their love.

The core love story between Clementine and Iwan across time.

Analea tells young Clementine that the apartment she lives in is truly magical, insisting it is not merely a metaphor.

Clementine rushes out of the Olive Branch to handle a work crisis and bumps into a stranger carrying dessert.

Rhonda refuses to let Clementine cancel her August vacation and hints that she plans to retire soon.

On her way home from work, Clementine picks up a New York City travel guide that someone at the office was giving away.

Iwan shows Clementine a handwritten note from Analea confirming she sublet the apartment to him for the summer.

Clementine and Iwan dance together in the apartment after hearing a neighbor play violin from a Broadway show upstairs.

Iwan asks if he can kiss Clementine and she agrees, but she pulls away as her aunt's rule returns to her mind.

After a month of searching fruitlessly for Iwan, Clementine stops looking and agrees to a date set up by her friends.

At their weekly gathering, Clementine's friends catch her looking at Iwan's Instagram profile and tease her about having a crush.

Iwan takes Clementine to Yo Mama's Fajitas, a food truck run by his longtime friends Miguel and Isa.

Iwan steps outside the apartment to suggest going into the city and immediately vanishes, leaving Clementine alone in the present.

Clementine finds a handwritten letter from her aunt's former love, Vera, waiting in her mailbox.

Clementine visits the past apartment one last time and tells Iwan the full story of the magical time slip and their future.

Drew reveals that Iwan chose Strauss and Adder as his publisher just before Clementine's birthday celebration at the Met.

Clementine and Iwan pack up Apartment B4 together and say a final goodbye to the magical apartment.

From the childhood memory of Analea calling the apartment magical to the moment Clementine and Iwan pack up Apartment B4, this pool captures the quieter but essential moments that surround the central romance. These include the chance encounter at the Olive Branch, small domestic scenes with Iwan in the past, and the gradual reawakening of Clementine's passion for painting and adventure. We also see her social world—her friendships with Drew and Fiona, her complicated relationship with stability at work, and the curious letter from Vera that opens an unexpected door. The magic of the apartment is shown through abrupt moments when time slips forward or backward without warning, including the jarring instant Iwan simply vanishes. Together these events fill in the full texture of the story, showing how Clementine moves from grief and stagnancy toward a tentative openness to change.

The background moments and relationships that shape the whole story.

Fiona tells Clementine that the stranger she collided with at the Olive Branch was the famous chef James Ashton.

Clementine recalls her aunt's firm rule about the apartment: never fall in love there, because the other person will always leave.

After trying and failing to return to the present, Clementine reluctantly agrees to share the apartment's bed with Iwan.

Clementine flirts with Iwan while he cooks, causing him to get distracted and burn his finger on the stove.

Drew tells Clementine that Iwan's team has rejected Strauss and Adder's publishing offer and they will not be moving forward.

Clementine returns to the past apartment and convinces Iwan to apply for a line cook position rather than settle as a dishwasher.

Iwan kisses Clementine before she leaves the past apartment and asks her to promise that she will come back to him.

Clementine receives a package from her late aunt that was lost in the mail for months and is struck by memories of their last conversation.

Iwan reveals to Clementine that he has always known about the seven-year time slip inside the apartment.

Miguel and Isa tell Clementine that Iwan spent years being obsessed with a girl named Clementine after a single chance meeting.

Iwan pulls away when Clementine tries to kiss him outside the subway station, saying she is off-limits to him.

Clementine and Iwan spend the night together in the past apartment, knowingly breaking Analea's rule about falling in love.

Clementine's parents visit for her birthday and surprise her by enthusiastically supporting her decision to quit her publishing job.

Clementine enters the past apartment for the final time and realizes Iwan was the stranger she once shared a cab with.

Clementine hears the past apartment door open expecting Iwan, but Aunt Analea walks in and throws out her arms to embrace her.

This pool focuses on the pivotal moments of discovery and decision that change the course of the story. Early revelations like learning the stranger's true identity and remembering Analea's strict rule set the emotional stakes, while scenes of Clementine and Iwan crossing lines—sharing a bed, then spending the night together—show how rules keep breaking down. A string of shocking discoveries follows: a delayed package reopens grief over Analea's death, Iwan admits he has known about the time slip all along, and his friends reveal he never forgot Clementine. The pool traces a full arc from first tension to final understanding, ending with the most emotionally charged moments in the novel: Clementine realizing Iwan was the stranger who changed her life years before they officially met, and unexpectedly coming face to face with her beloved aunt one final time.