Savannah, Georgia, historian Rachel finds herself reminiscing about the summer of 1975, her last summer of freedom before being forced into high society by her haughty, social-climbing mother. Eleven-year-old Rachel intends to spend every moment of those few, precious months with her cousin, Bo; her best friend, Scott; and the Strickland brothers.
Then Della moves into the neighborhood. Tiny, shy, and afraid of everything, Della is naive to the joys of living by the river, and Rachel is determined to show her how much fun she can have by introducing her to skiing, tubing, boating,...