The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Bailey, Tessa; It Happened One Summer. New York: HarperCollins, 2021.

The novel is narrated in the past-tense by a third-person narrator who switches back and forth between Piper and Brendan. In the beginning, the narrator only presents Piper’s narration in her chapters, and Brendan’s narration in his chapters. However, as their relationship begins to progress, the narrator brings the two characters closer together and narrates both of their perspectives in the same chapter, though usually the narrator still uses chapter breaks to distinguish between their vantage points.

The story begins with 28-year-old Piper at a fancy Hollywood party. Her boyfriend of three weeks, Adrian, broke up with her in the middle of the party and accused her of being a bimbo with nothing at all unique or interesting about her. Piper, an Instagram model and socialite with a wealthy stepfather who paid all her credit card bills, pretended not to care because she did not want a bad photo of her to end up online. However, when she left the party and called her friend, Kirby, Kirby told Piper that the news of the breakup has already wound up online and the rumor was that Piper had begged Adrian not to break up with her. To restore her reputation, Piper impulsively decided to break into the Mondrian Hotel and throw a huge party at the rooftop pool.

After posting a revealing picture of herself at the pool, the police arrived. Kirby told them that Piper had organized the whole event. Piper was arrested and taken to the police station, but she charmed the guard and her younger sister, Hannah, came to bail her out. Piper checked her Instagram and saw that a million people had liked her party picture, but Adrian had not. When the sisters arrived at their home, their stepfather, Daniel, was irate. He was producing a new Hollywood film with the owner of the Mondrian Hotel and Piper’s stunt had nearly cost him the business partnership. In order to teach Piper a lesson and prove to his partner that he was strict, Daniel announced that he was sending Piper to Westport to live in the apartment above the bar her father had owned.

Piper had been four when her real father, Henry Cross, had drowned at sea while out fishing with his crew. Her mother had immediately left Westport and started a new life in Los Angeles, and she never spoke of Henry. Hannah announced that she would go with Piper, so she would not be alone.

The girls arrived in Westport and discovered that the bar and the apartment were in shambles. The locals, including Sea Captain Brendan, drank there and called it the No Name Bar because it seemed not to belong to anyone ever since Henry Cross died. When Piper and Hannah arrived, they were shocked to learn the girls were the daughters of Henry Cross.

Brendan felt instant attraction to Piper, but he was annoyed by her because she looked like a spoiled and judgmental woman. He spent several days being rude to her, which made her first few days in Westport feel even worse. After cleaning up the apartment, Piper tried to cook dinner but nearly lit the bar on fire. She ran outside with a flaming pan and Brendan ran over to help her. He yelled at her for being reckless, but then apologized. He took her out to dinner and talked to her about his job and his late wife. She told him the real reason she was in Westport.

Brendan felt so bad for being mean to Piper that he fixed her locks and arranged for the hardware store to install padding on the bottom of the top bunk so Piper would stop hitting her head every time she woke up in the tiny apartment. Brendan left for a short fishing trip and Piper settled into Westport. She started walking an older man, Abe, to the maritime museum every morning, and she met her paternal grandmother, Opal.

Brendan missed Piper so much while he was away that he decided to take off his wedding ring when he returned. Piper decided she wanted to honor her father and impress her stepfather by remodeling the bar. Brendan offered to help. At the end of the week, he invited her to dinner. They kissed, but Piper was afraid of getting too serious with him since she planned on leaving Westport as soon as possible.

Brendan left for a two-week trip to the Bering Strait. The day before he was to arrive back in Westport, a typhoon struck, and Piper panicked at the idea of him being hurt of killed. She ran to his house in the rain and slept in his bed. When she woke up in the morning, she learned that Brendan was in the hospital with his crewmate, Sanders. She rushed to the hospital and found Brendan, who was fine and safe. They kissed and then had sex in an empty hospital room.

Brendan and Piper decided to be boyfriend and girlfriend, but Piper could not decide if she could really see herself living in Westport. Brendan took Piper and her sister on a surprise trip to Seattle. While there, Kirby called Piper and told her LA Weekly had written an article about the vanishing party princess and Kirby wanted to throw her a big welcome back party. Piper said maybe, but then returned to Westport with Brendan.

When Brendan learned that Piper’s stepfather was coming to the grand opening of the bar, he suspected she wanted to go back home. They got in a huge fight right before Brendan left on a fishing trip. Piper assumed they would make up when he returned on the night of the opening, but no one came to the opening at all. Distraught, Piper left to go to Kirby’s party in Los Angeles.

Brendan and the rest of the crew and locals arrived late to the opening because of a boat issue. When Brendan learned that Piper had left, he followed her and arrived at the party. The couple kissed and made up. Piper returned to Westport and moved in with Brendan permanently.