The following version of this book was used to create the guide: Choi, Mary H.K. Yolk. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2021.

Choi’s novel is divided into 48 chapters and is narrated in the first person by Jayne Baek.

Jayne, a college student, is living in a New York City apartment with Jeremy, an ex-boyfriend with whom she currently has an ambiguous relationship. While at a restaurant with Jeremy and a girl he is seeing, Jayne encounters June, her sister. She and June had previously fallen out of contact, though they both live in the city. June asks Jayne to come see her in her apartment, where she tells Jayne that she has uterine or ovarian cancer, explaining that she does not yet have a clear diagnosis but knows that she is sick. She swears that she has cancer on “Mom’s dead baby” (20), a child their mother lost that was older than Jayne but younger than June. Jayne feels awkward and does not know how to handle the news, but asks June to keep her updated. In the meantime, Jayne struggles with an eating disorder and finds a former childhood acquaintance, Patrick, on Instagram. Patrick attended the same Korean Catholic church as Jayne and her sister in the Texas community where they grew up.

Jayne messages Patrick, and he sends her his phone number. When Jayne visits June at her apartment again, June says that she has been referred to a gynecologic oncology surgeon. Later, at her own apartment, Jayne has a fight with Jeremy, who owes her rent money. She gives him a week to leave, and goes to stay with June. Jayne continues communicating with Patrick, and is intimidated by his education and accomplishments, which include attending Yale and art school. In the meantime, June has learned that she has to schedule an MRI before proceeding with her surgery, and she and Jayne fall into a routine of living together. While shopping at a nearby deli, Jayne steals a package of chocolate-covered banana chunks.

On Halloween, Jayne returns to her apartment with June. They are unable to determine if Jeremy is still living there. June takes a call from the girls’ parents, makes plans to go to Texas to see them for the weekend, and offers to buy Jayne a plane ticket so she can come with her. Back at June’s apartment, Jayne discovers that June has stolen her identity and has been using her student insurance to pay for medical care because she lost her job and was unable to pay for it herself. This leads to an argument, and Jayne leaves in anger. She meets Patrick at a bar, where she pulls him into a bathroom and kisses him. He stops her and they go outside, where she confesses that she has nowhere to stay. They go to Patrick’s apartment, where he cooks for her and they discuss their families and Korean heritage.

The next day, after having breakfast with Patrick at a diner, Jayne attempts to initiate sex with him, but he stops her. Jayne returns to June’s apartment as her sister is leaving. June says that she is meeting an old client, but Jayne follows her and finds that she has a doctor’s appointment. Jayne goes to the appointment with June and learns that her sister is having a hysterectomy. Three days later, Jayne and June take their trip to Texas. There, Jayne struggles with painful childhood memories. She worries that her mother will be critical of her appearance when she attends church, but instead, her mother smiles at her. After church, Jayne and June go to Dairy Queen, where they discuss a time when their mother disappeared for months and returned without ever saying where she had been.

After returning to New York, the sisters see Patrick at Trader Joe’s with a girl he introduces as Aliyah. Upset at having seen Patrick with another girl, Jayne arranges to meet Jeremy, who is having dinner with a famous actor. When Jayne goes to the bathroom, the actor waits for her outside and kisses her when she exits. She tells him that she has school in the morning and runs out of the restaurant. June tells Jayne that she is going to throw a party, where she hopes to meet someone to have sex with before her surgery. At the party, June says that she wants to become pregnant before having her reproductive organs removed.

Jayne sees Patrick at June’s party. The two of them leave together along with June and a man named Salim. Outside June’s apartment, Patrick explains to Jayne that he and Aliyah were in an open relationship but have now broken up. Jayne goes to Patrick’s apartment with him, where they have sex, and he tells her that he has feelings for her and is done dating other people. Jayne returns to the deli where she stole the banana chunks and finds that her photograph has been displayed alongside those of other shoplifters. Overcome with shame, she buys food at a supermarket that she binges on and throws up. She asks June if she can stay with her long-term. June agrees on the condition that Jayne get help for her eating disorder. Jayne agrees and begins attending support group meetings.

On the day of June’s surgery, the girls’ mother arrives at the hospital, as Jayne has called her. Having learned that the girls have switched identities and why, Jayne’s mother points out that if Jayne ever has a child, she will have to assume June’s identity. She also explains to Jayne where she went the time that she left for months: She returned to Korea to mourn for the baby she lost, Ji-soo.