It’s Dade Hamiton’s last summer before college. He has a crappy job at Food World, a “boyfriend” who won’t publicly acknowledge his existence (maybe because Pablo also has a girlfriend, one of the most popular girls in school), and parents on the verge of a break-up. Add to all this the case of Jenny Moore, a nine-year-old whose disappearance has gripped his Iowa town, and Dade’s main goal is just to survive until he leaves for school.

Then he meets the mysterious Alex Kincaid, a dreamy-eyed misfit with all the wrong friends. Alex breathes new life into the suburban wasteland that Dade can’t wait to escape—but real love, like truth, has consequences, and its power soon sets in motion a tragic chain of events that will change Dade’s life forever.