This is the story of the last summer of total freedom for three best friends as seen through the eyes of one of them, Violet Monroe. It is a story that deals with change and choice. In the background looms the impact of the 9/11 attack on the United States. The year is 2002. Violet believes she and her pals, Terran Ingram and Joey Fielding, will spend the summer smoking dope and trashing their parents. What she will learn is that her "perfect" friend Terran stays high to escape the successful life plan her mother has laid out for her. Her own mother stays in a constant state of intoxication and opens her mail with latex gloves, fearing anthrax. Joey, who has been madly in love with Terran since he was eleven, will finally get his chance at romance. Violet will be forced to reexamine her world and all its main characters.