When two boys come to spend the summer at Bird Lake, each is reeling from his own personal tragedy. Mitch feels isolated at his grandparents' house and can't help hating his father, who walked out on him and his mom two-and-a-half weeks earlier. Spencer's family has decided it's finally time to return to Bird Lake, years after his brother, Matty, drowned there. Both boys arrive at Bird Lake scarred and fragile, but as they become friends, the sharp edges of their lives smooth out and, slowly, they are able to start to heal.