There are two sides to every summer. When 17-year-old Rory McShane steps off the bus in East Hampton, it's like she's entering another universe - one populated by impossibly beautiful people wearing pressed khakis and driving expensive cars. She's left her rural hometown in New Jersey to take a summer job as 'errand girl' for the Rule Family on Lily Pond Lane. At the beginning of the season, Rory plans on helping out her aunt, who's a full-time housekeeper in the Rules' enormous beachfront mansion, and maybe sneaking in some beach time. By August, however, Rory realizes that plans have a way of going haywire, especially when siblings Isabel and Connor Rule are around. Feeling claustrophobic in her country club world, impulsive 17-year-old Isabel Rule embarks on a breathless summer romance with an older guy that her family would never approve of. Isabel trusts Rory with the details of her new relationship, and the girls forge a true friendship. But when long-hidden secrets start to surface on Lily Pond Lane and Rory reveals that she may have feelings for someone, too - Connor Rule, Isabel's older brother - the new friends realize that societal rules can be hard to break.
With her unique insight into East Coast high society, Joanna Philbin presents a pitch-perfect summer story of friendship and self-discovery set against the rich and vibrant backdrop of life in the Hamptons.