Seventeen-year-old Anne's new life in Southern California feels more like a death sentence, with a different school, no friends, and family problems, so when she learns to surf in order to fit in, her efforts are not popular with everyone.

Having made a pact to help each other not go unnoticed in their sophomore year, Winter, dismayed at how quickly her once best friend Sloane forgets her promise when she is noticed by the "cool girls," vows to take revenge.

Instead of a fresh start, high school provides more grief and isolation to Echo, whose older sister died a year earlier, but insights gained from Zoe's diary--a fifteenth birthday gift from Zoe's boyfriend--about her sister's life and death change Echo in ways she could have never expected.