Near the end of summer, eight-year-old Danny Leavit is riding his bike around the village of Salcombe on Fire Island and spots a dead body (which the novel will later reveal to be that of Susan Steinhagen) lying in the reeds beside the boardwalk. Danny’s father is outraged and contemplates suing the town, for he didn’t pay $2 million for his beach cabin and $50,000 in property taxes for his son to go around finding corpses. Danny, on the other hand, is excited to share his cool discovery with his friends at summer camp.

In Chapter 1, the narrative leaps back in time to the beginning of the summer and introduces the main characters and their backstories and personalities, starting with Lauren Parker, who is looking forward to a great summer. Every year, Lauren’s family goes to Fire Island. The luxury vacation island was not her first choice of a summer home, but her husband Jason insisted because he used to spend summers there with his best friend, Sam Weinstein, when they were children. Jason eventually steamrolled over her objections and bought a house there, and Lauren went along without expressing her reservations.