The following version of the novel was used to create this study guide: Choi, Mary H.K. Emergency Contact. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, April 9, 2019.

In the tech era romance novel Emergency Contact by Mary H.K. Choi, Penny Lee and Sam Becker have both been hurt by love in the past. Before they knew one another well, Penny witnessed as Sam passed out when he overthought his ex-girlfriend’s pregnancy, his role in the child’s life, and his poverty. Sam admitted to Penny the conditions that caused what Penny determined was a panic attack. They decided to act as the other’s emergency contact, a relationship that deepened into friendship.

Penny first met Sam when Jude, her college roommate, asked Penny to meet her at House Coffee, the coffee shop that Jude’s Uncle Sam, managed. Penny first noticed that she and Sam were wearing the same outfit: “they were both wearing black T-shirts with three-quarter-length sleeves, black belts with burnished silver buckles, and skinny black jeans with holes at both knees and black high-top Chucks” (43). Penny is further enamored by Sam when she hears him talk about his desire to be a documentarian.

Sam, however, has an ex-girlfriend, Lorraine, with whom he still has a bond. Lorraine was pregnant. Even though he was afraid he did not have the finances necessary to take care of a baby, he thought the baby might give him direction for his life. Only four days after finding out about the pregnancy, Lorraine told Sam that she was no longer and might never have been pregnant. Sam was devastated.

Meanwhile, Sam and Penny were communicating by text message, not just as emergency contacts, but as friends. Sam admitted to Penny how upset he had been when he learned that Lorraine was not pregnant. When Penny learned that her mother, Celeste, had to be hospitalized, she called Sam to take her to the hospital. Penny was outraged to learn that her mother had overdosed on weed brownies during her birthday party. She thought it was typical of the way her mother had acted during her Penny's childhood. Sam was able to sympathize with Penny because his mother also caused drama in his life. She ruined his credit when she opened multiple credit cards in his name and then did not pay those bills. It was why he could not get a lease for an apartment or even apply for student loans.

Penny shared with Sam that Bobby, a teenager whom her mother hired as a French tutor for her, raped her. Penny had liked and trusted Bobby. She had even wanted him to kiss her, but he did not stop when she asked him to do so. Penny had blamed her mother for the rape. She asked Sam if she was broken.

Needing to reunite, Sam visited his mother, but she did not accept his attempt to make amends. She was still angry with him for calling fraud protection and blamed him for almost losing her house. Penny’s mother, meanwhile, visited Penny at college. The two reconnected when Celeste helped Penny understand Penny had been a difficult child for her to raise because she was so independent. Regardless, Celeste argued the parenting had been a team effort. Even though Penny wanted to tell Celeste about the rape and make her feel guilty, Penny realized the rape was not Celeste’s fault, but Bobby’s.

While Celeste was still in Penny’s dorm room, Sam came to visit. Celeste did the most mature thing that Penny could remember and left her and Sam alone. Penny believed Sam had come to break off their relationship when he announced that he did not want to be friends anymore. Instead, Sam listed all the things that he wanted them to do together, indicating he wanted a face-to-face dating relationship.