The following version of this book was used to create this study guide: Hilderbrand, Elin. The Perfect Couple. Hachette Book Group, 2018. Nook.

The novel is told in the present tense by an omniscient narrator that oscillates back and forth between several different main characters as the Chief and Detective Nick work to unravel the last night of the potentially murdered maid-of-honor, Merritt Monaco. The novel begins when the Chief wakes up to a phone call telling him that a woman has been found, drowned and dead, in the water. The Chief drives to Summerland, the magnificent compound where the wedding of Celeste and Benji was supposed to happen later in the day.

The novel jumps back in time to the previous day and introduces Greer, the mother of the groom, as she goes to pick up Celeste’s parents from the wharf. Greer is a writer of murder-mysteries, and she is convinced her husband, Tag, is having an affair with their mutual friend, Featherlegih. Celeste’s parents, Karen and Bruce, arrive on the island. Karen has terminal breast cancer, but is overjoyed to be on the island for her daughter’s wedding.

In present time, the Chief begins to investigate what happened. On the beach, he sees an overturned kayak, blood on the sand, and a few glasses and old cigars. The wedding planner tells him that Celeste found Merritt in the ocean and started screaming. Celeste was down on the beach with all of her bags. The Chief goes up to the house to interview Abby, the groom’s pregnant sister-in-law. Abby tells him that the night before, after the rehearsal dinner, the young people had gone out to the bars. She stayed at Summerland because she was not feeling well, though her husband went. She saw Merritt crying on the beach, but then she went to sleep. When he asks her about the kayak, Abby tells him that it belongs to Benji and Thomas’s father, Tag.

The novel skips back in time again and we learn that Tag and Merritt began an affair several months ago. Back in present time, the Chief interviews the best man, Shooter, and tries to figure out why he was seen returning to Summerland early that morning with all of his bags. Shooter asks to use the bathroom, then climbs out a window and runs away. The Chief calls all the ticket desks at the wharf and alerts them to Shooter’s likely presence. A young local girl spots him and calls the police, and Shooter is arrested. Greer tells the police that she went upstairs after the wedding rehearsal to write, and came down to the kitchen to get a glass of champagne, seeing Abby on her way back upstairs.

The novel skips back in time again and the reader learns how Tag was obsessed with Merritt for months and that he bought her a ring for her birthday before breaking things off with her as if she were completely expendable. She calls him and tells him that she is pregnant, and says she wants to keep the baby.

Back in the present, the Chief learns that Merritt had a barbiturate in her system and suspects that someone might have drugged her because, aside from a bruise on her wrist and a cut on her foot, she was completely untouched.

The novel skips back in time again and shows how Celeste dated Benji for nine months before meeting his best friend, Shooter, for the first time and falling immediately, irrevocably in love. She suppresses her feelings, though, and stays true to Benji despite the temptation.

Celeste tells the police that Merritt was having an affair with Tag and informs them that the last time she saw Merritt she as sitting on the beach with Tag, Thomas, and Featherleigh. Back in time again, the novel reveals that Celeste nearly broke up with Benji to be with Shooter, but when she saw Shooter flirting with another girl she got upset and said yes when Benji asked her to marry him out of spite.

Back in the present, Tag admits to his family that he was having an affair with Merritt and that he took her out on the kayak, though he did not murder her. The Chief interviews Shooter, who admits he was having an affair with Celeste and says that they had planned to run away together and elope that morning. Greer notices that her sleeping pills are missing, and tells the Chief that she left them in the kitchen when she was getting champagne the night before. Tag tells the Chief that he was having an affair with Merritt and that he took her out on the kayak, but swears that he brought her back to shore safely before going to bed.

Back in time, Shooter appears at Celeste’s door after Benji’s bachelor party and kisses her. She tells him to leave, though all she wants is to be with him. The night before her wedding, Shooter asks her to run away with him, and she agrees to meet him at the wharf in the morning.

Back in the present, Featherleigh tells the chief that she was having an affair with Thomas. The Chief interviews Thomas and Thomas affirms Featherleigh’s story. The police have no choice but to rule the death an accident and go home. Celeste breaks things off with Benji and tells him she never wants to marry him. Shooter decides to give Benji some time to process before starting a relationship with Celeste, who he fully intends to marry. Greer overhears Abby and Thomas fighting about Featherleigh, and realizes that Abby put a pill in Featherleigh’s water in order to sedate her and keep her away from Thomas, but Merritt had taken the water from her instead. Greer decides to keep the revelation to herself for the sake of the family.

In the final chapter, the narrator shows Merritt getting out of the kayak and running away from Tag. She throws the ring he gave her into the ocean and then heads back to her room, feeling very sleepy. She cuts herself on a piece of broken glass, though, so she steps into the ocean to clean the wound. She spies the ring lying beneath the waves and decides to go in and get it so that she can give it to her unborn child eventually. Instead, she slips into the water and falls asleep.