Trust Fall

Julia Lowell, a high school senior in Springfield, Nebraska, answers her front door to find Bernard Elizando, a man in a suit, asking for her parents. Bernard informs Clint and Shawna Lowell that they are the primary beneficiaries in the will of a man named Remington. The inheritance includes a five-story home in Manhattan's exclusive Gardenwood neighborhood and a fortune worth multiple millions. Two stipulations apply: The family must live in the house for at least six months, and Julia and her twin brother, Liam, must attend Gardenwood Academy. Though Julia's parents initially refuse, their grocery store has been failing and they risk losing everything. The family votes unanimously to move. Bernard warns them to keep the inheritance secret, providing a cover story about longstanding investment wealth.

In New York, Damion Rutledge, a senior at Gardenwood, grieves the death of his great-uncle Remington with his wealthy, emotionally distant parents, Quinn and Whitney. Remi was Damion's closest confidant and surrogate father, who helped him plan a future outside the family finance business. When Quinn's attorney reveals that Remi left his estate to strangers in Nebraska, Quinn is furious, convinced the Lowells manipulated a vulnerable old man. Damion is devastated about losing the house that holds his most cherished memories.

Thirty days later, the Lowells arrive in Manhattan. Julia's wallet goes missing, and she spots a guy in glasses holding it across the street. The guy is Damion, who notices her Nebraska driver's license and realizes she inherited Remi's house. Julia headbutts his nose in the scuffle, and they part on hostile terms.

At Gardenwood, Headmaster Green tells Julia her math scores fall far below the school's standards. Standardized tests in six weeks will determine whether she can stay enrolled, which could jeopardize the inheritance. Green identifies Damion as his best tutor, and Julia reluctantly begs for help. Damion agrees on the condition she will owe him an unspecified favor.

Damion begins tutoring Julia at Riverside Manor, the inherited house. The space remains unchanged from Remi's time, and being inside is deeply emotional for Damion. While Julia steps away, he photographs notes on a legal pad mentioning Remington's name, viewing them as evidence to help his family reclaim the estate. He resolves to use his access to spy, even as details about Julia, her cat Clank, her baguette obsession, her defensiveness about Nebraska, intrigue him.

At school, Julia faces relentless hostility. Students call her "New Money" and "Corn Queen," and her only allies are classmates Jasmine and Donovan. Meanwhile, Damion's parents pressure him to attend the season, a series of lavish social events culminating in a formal ball, and to escort Coco Chattingham, the leader of the school's most elite clique.

Julia and Damion's dynamic shifts during an impromptu trip to Times Square. On the subway, they discover a shared love of poetry when Julia photographs Essex Hemphill's "Thread," a poem Damion has memorized. Over dinner at an Italian restaurant, he presses Julia about still carrying her ex-boyfriend Will's wallet, and she accidentally admits she still has feelings for Will. Damion suggests she needs to move on, creating a tender moment.

When Julia spills iced coffee on herself at a coffee shop, Damion lends her his sweater. At a cocktail party launching the season, Quinn publicly mocks Julia's lack of college plans, and Damion intervenes to defend her. At a rooftop birthday party hosted by Damion's best friend, Beckett Schwab, Julia pulls Damion into a dark bedroom to shield him from Coco's advances. They nearly kiss before being interrupted. The next day, photocopied pictures of Julia from the bedroom are posted throughout the hallway. Damion finds Julia being taunted by Coco and Bella, one of Coco's friends in the Skins clique, and announces that Julia is his date to the ball.

Julia is skeptical, but Damion frames the invitation as repayment of the favor she owes. He lets his furious parents believe he is using Julia to gather intelligence on the Lowells. When Julia's practice test scores come back five points above the cutoff, their celebration in Riverside Park nearly ends in a kiss before Julia panics and runs.

She escapes to Springfield for a friend's birthday but accidentally texts Damion instead of Liam, writing "HELP me." Damion panics and flies to Nebraska overnight. At Lowell's Market, he discovers "Lou's Section," a memorial display of Remi's favorite products, and realizes the family's beloved customer "Lou" was his uncle living under a different name. Julia takes Damion to Lou's cabin, where both cry over the man they loved. On Remi's handmade boat, Damion holds Julia's hand, certain her family did nothing wrong.

That evening at a cornfield party, Damion kisses Julia for the first time. Back in New York, they become an official couple. Damion avoids Riverside Manor, though, because hiding his connection to Remi has become unbearable.

The Age of Innocence ball is held at the Cloisters, a medieval museum in upper Manhattan. Julia descends the staircase in a red silk gown, and Damion is awestruck. They share a first dance that includes the "cosmic dip," a waltz move both learned from people connected to Remi. The evening shatters when Quinn serves the Lowells with a lawsuit, publicly accusing them of fraud. Julia discovers the Rutledges are Remi's family and that Damion knew her identity from the day they met. Stapled to the legal documents are the photo Damion stole from Lowell's Market and the notes he photographed during tutoring. Devastated, Julia calls him no different from the worst people at Gardenwood.

Julia retreats to Springfield. Bernard visits and explains how Damion's parents treat him more like an accessory than a child, and how Remi filled the role of a loving parent. Will also visits, telling Julia she never looked at him the way she looked at Damion.

On Damion's eighteenth birthday, Bernard delivers a gift from Remi: a bird-watching book containing a letter. Remi explains he left the Lowells his estate intentionally, wanting to free Damion's family from "the curse of more." The letter reveals a trust fund for Damion to attend veterinary school and mentions a crimson-red cardinal as a symbol of Remi's enduring presence. A postscript reads: "There is a girl here in Springfield you should meet. I think you'd like her."

Damion goes to his father's office and offers a trade: He will attend an Ivy League school and study business if Quinn drops the lawsuit. Quinn suggests Cornell, which has both a business school and a veterinary program. They shake hands.

Damion delivers the legal documents to the Lowells at Riverside Manor. Julia, back to collect belongings, hides upstairs and eavesdrops. When Liam presses Damion on why he sacrificed his dream, Damion answers: "For her, okay? . . . She still deserves everything." Asked if he is in love with Julia, he confesses: "I am." Liam looks up at Julia, crying at the top of the stairs, and tells her: "Go get him."

Julia finds Damion on his bench in Riverside Park. She wears the sweater he lent her after the coffee spill, the one she never returned, and offers to "tutor" him, echoing the dynamic that first brought them together. She says she is willing to trust him one more time. They kiss.

In the epilogue, set the following spring, Julia and Damion sit in Remi's boat at the cabin in Nebraska, which Remi left to Damion as a final gift. Damion is headed to Cornell; Julia has been accepted to NYU. Her standardized test scores arrive, exceeding the cutoff by six points. A crimson-red cardinal lands on the dock, and Damion feels his uncle watching over them both.