The story takes place in the summer sometime in the late twentieth century, probably in the 1980s, although no specific year is mentioned. Karen, a fifteen-year-old girl from the suburbs of Chicago, has been sent to New Franklin, Illinois, ostensibly to visit her Aunt Augusta but in actuality to curtail her extravagant moping over "a lost boyfriend." While at Augusta's house, Karen helps repair the old house where her aunt lives and listens to Augusta's stories. She observes Augusta's relationship with Jerry Reese, a highschool sweetheart turned adult friend, begins a relationship herself with a boy named George, who looks for something to interest him in New Franklin as well as escape from his grandparents' house, and learns about herself and her family.