The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Rodriques, Elias. All the Water I've Seen is Running. W. W, Norton & Company, Inc., 2021.

Elias Rodriques's novel All the Water I've Seen is Running is primarily written from the main character Daniel Henriquez's first person point of view. With the exception of the first chapter and those scenes written in flashback, the novel relies upon the present tense. Although the narrative assumes a largely linear form, beginning with the news of Aubrey's death and tracing Daniel's journey home to Palm Coast, the author distorts this conventional structure by braiding scenes from the past and present. The following summary leans upon the present tense and a linear mode of explanation.

When Daniel Henriquez is young, his mother moves him and his brother, Junior, from Jamaica to the United States. They start their new life in Flatbush, a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York. When his mother loses her job, she moves the family to Palm Coast, Florida to be nearer their extended family.

Daniel feels alienated and alone at his new school. He is grateful, therefore, when a scrappy white girl named Aubrey lets him join her lunch table. Soon, Daniel and Aubrey become close friends. They spend time together both in and out of school. Many of Daniel's days with Aubrey take place near the Intracoastal, the river by which they live. When Daniel is not with Aubrey, he is working on homework and training for track. Desperate to escape Palm Coast, he thinks that winning a scholarship is his ultimate gateway out. Over the years, his friends Twig, Desmond, Egypt, Jess, Aubrey, and others, keep him out of trouble so that he does not ruin his future.

After graduating, Daniel leaves Palm Coast as promised. His relationship with Aubrey devolves, and they eventually lose touch. Once Daniel moves to New York, he finds himself putting even greater distances between himself and his friends and family. He not only comes out, but shapes a new identity for himself outside the context of his humble and tumultuous upbringing.

Then one day, nearly a decade after leaving Florida, Daniel learns that Aubrey has died in a tragic car accident. He feels so distressed that he breaks up with his boyfriend, Virgil, and starts calling his mother every night. Her stories about the past both distract Daniel from his grief and inspire his reflections on ancestry and family history.

Daniel flies to Palm Coast after Aubrey's funeral. He thinks that reconnecting with his friends will help him feel better about losing Aubrey. At the same time, he feels that he is still in love with, and is desperate to learn move about her life and death.

He reconnects with his former close friends, Twig and Desmond, both of whom discourage Daniel from confronting Brandon, Aubrey's ex-boyfriend. Brandon was driving drunk with Aubrey in the car on the night of her death. Despite his trepidations, Desmond decides to accompany Daniel to Brandon's house. While there, Daniel becomes volatile and attacks Brandon. Jess's sudden appearance quells the tension.

That night, Daniel has dinner with Twig, Desmond, Jess, and Egypt. Just as Daniel feared, only minutes into dinner, Jess reveals that Daniel and Aubrey never dated. Over the years, Daniel lied to his friends about their relationship, insisting that they had had sex. When Jess reveals the truth, Daniel's friends demand an explanation. For the first time in the novel, Daniel articulates the true nature of their dynamic.

After dinner, the friends go for a drive around town. They end up at the beach. Daniel and Desmond race each other on the sand and dive into the ocean. They embrace one another as if they are still boys.