Big Summer

It’s now 2018. The narrator Daphne meets with Leela, a freelance designer. Daphne runs a popular fashion blog. As a plus-size woman, she is always on the hunt for clothing that makes her feel beautiful. Leela offers her the job of brand figure of Leef Fashion, a new plus-size line. Leela had discovered Daphne through social media, after Daphne spoke out against the fat-shaming ethos of gym culture. Leela finds Daphne relatable, but Daphne knows that her Internet image is carefully fabricated. Daphne agrees to wear Leela’s clothes to her trip on the Cape, where her old high school friend Drue Cavanaugh is getting married.

Years earlier, when she is 19, Daphne goes with Drue and some other friends to a bar where they run into a group of Drue’s male friends. Lake, one of the young men, seems to be interested in Daphne, who is unaccustomed to male attention. Drue encourages Daphne to flirt with Lake. Daphne then overhears a conversation between Drue and Lake in which Drue refers to Daphne as a “grenade,” an “ugly” girl that one man needs to woo for other men to get to the “prettier” girls. Daphne is filled with shame but stands up for herself. Back on the dance floor with Lake, she slams her foot into his toes. He makes a crude and sexist comment toward her while the rest of the dance floor watches, and a woman records the altercation on her phone. Drue confesses to the setup and tells Daphne that they all feel sorry for her. Daphne is considered “overweight” and went to their private school on a scholarship while Drue is wealthy and skinny. Daphne storms away from Drue, standing up for herself for the first time in their years of friendship. In Daphne’s family’s apartment, Daphne admires her own handiwork; she’s a gifted designer and decorator and wishes other people could appreciate her talents. Daphne googles “body acceptance” and finds several social media pages devoted to body positivity. She decides to stop restricting her diet and life and embrace her body. She also resolves to stop being friends with Drue.

Daphne is baking breakfast the next morning when she receives a text from her friend Darshi asking her if she’s okay. Darshi links a YouTube video titled “Fat Girl Goes OFF,” a video of Daphne calling Lake out on the dance floor. Some of the comments cheer her on, while others call her “fat.” Daphne changes her social media’s page picture and title to “Big Time” with a picture of her raising her middle finger. 

Daphne posts a video of herself outside the bar from that night. It reflects on how Daphne was humiliated by her friends but also serves as her influencer origin story.

Daphne’s offline job is the afternoon nanny for the Snitzers. Daphne picks up Ian and Izzie from school then takes care of them for the afternoon. She has a particularly close bond with Ian, who is bullied by kids at school. It is through the Snitzers that Drue reenters Daphne’s life. Drue has become a social media businesswoman and has risen to some degree of small fame. She is engaged to Stuart Lowe, which Daphne has heard about from gossip magazines. Stuart had been a contestant on a popular dating show. Drue asks Daphne about Darshi, who now lives with Daphne. Drue admits that she doesn’t have enough friends for her wedding party. Though Drue came from a wealthy family, she is lonely amid the myriad family dramas and fake friends that encircle her. Daphne feels sorry for her but is hesitant to forgive her. Drue offers to pay Daphne to attend her wedding as a bridesmaid.

When Daphne finally agrees, Drue posts a picture of them on Instagram and Daphne gets 2000 new followers that night.

Daphne had attended the prestigious Lathrop school, where her father taught English. She began attending in the sixth grade, as she had to wait a number of years before earning financial aid. She met Drue on her first day, when Drue invited her to sit next to her in class. In the lunch line, Drue asked Daphne for money, which Daphne gave up happily, eager for a friend. Darshini (Darshi) stood next to her in line and scoffed at Drue. She told Daphne that Drue’s mother’s family had founded the school and certainly didn’t need lunch money. Daphne rejected Drue’s invitation to sit with her at lunch in favor of Darshi’s friends. Drue and her friends Avery and Ainsley broke their social norm and joined Darshi’s table. Despite Darshi’s early warnings that Drue would only use and abuse her, Daphne couldn’t help but fall under Drue’s charismatic spell.

Darshi and Daphne live with a little terrier pug named Bingo, whom Daphne adopted after the night at the club and the humiliating YouTube video. Darshi is finishing up her doctorate at Columbia University and is dating a woman, though her parents don’t know it yet. Daphne is nervous to tell Darshi about reconnecting with Drue.

In middle school, Darshi had proven to be a true friend. Both girls were smart and not popular. Though Daphne knew that Darshi was her ally, she still did errands for Drue to win her favor. Daphne was moved by Drue’s allure, but she also knew that Drue didn’t have the same loving home life that Daphne had. When Daphne’s father brough Drue along with them for an excursion around the city to try exotic foods, Drue had said with full authenticity that it had been the best day of her life.

Daphne finally tells Darshi about Drue’s wedding. Darshi, angry, tells Daphne not to expect her to pick up the pieces again. But because Daphne is different and confident, she is certain that she won’t let Drue humiliate her again. Darshi asks Daphne if her toxic relationship with Drue had been worth it. Daphne remembers gallivanting around New York with Drue and admits that, at times, it had been.

At Drue’s engagement party, Daphne meets her brother Trip and other WASPy family members. Drue introduces Daphne to Corina Bailey, the woman Stuart had proposed to on the dating television show All the Single Ladies, then dumped for Drue. Drue privately admits to Daphne that inviting Corina would be great fodder for gossip magazines.

Drue’s other bridesmaids include her facialist Minerva and her assistant Natalie. Stuart tries to introduce Daphne to his friend Brett, whom Daphne recognizes. She had matched with Brett on a dating app and had not hidden her size. They had talked and connected, but when they finally met in person, he summarily walked out on her without an explanation.

The party is located on a block that has changed a great deal since Daphne last spent time there. She recalls the church’s basement Weight Watchers meetings, which reminds her of her nana. As a child, when her parents took summer camp jobs, Nana would come to New York to stay with Daphne. Nana had been the first person to teach Daphne that something was wrong with being big. She made Daphne exercise and forced her to slowly nibble and suck on diet food. Daphne would go to bed hungry, repeating her grandmother’s lessons about cutting back on eating as a way of control. Nana had brought Daphne to Weight Watchers, where Daphne was entranced by women supporting each other through their weight loss journeys while still being confused by her own relationship with her body. When Daphne’s parents came home from their summer camp jobs, they had been shocked to see Daphne’s weight loss. Her parents had always encouraged her to be happy and healthy, but not obsessed with looks. Though her parents tried to repair the psychological damage that Nana had wrought, Daphne had already internalized fatphobia.

Daphne arrives in Cape Cod in June. Drue has set Daphne up in a four-star house. Drue has planned an event-filled week before her wedding, and Daphne can’t help but consider what this wedding must be costing the Cavanaughs, whose business (rumor has it) has been suffering. Daphne’s new boss Leela texts her about the wedding. Leela is eager to get Daphne’s photo with Leela’s dress in Vogue, who is rumored to be covering the wedding. Daphne takes in the view of the Cape and reflects that this would be the perfect setting in which to fall in love.

Drue hosts a beach party financed by social media brands. Daphne meets a handsome man named Nick Andros at the bar. Nick is a childhood friend of Drue’s; they had met in sailing camp. He recounts Drue cruelly locking him in closets with her friends. Nick is a native of Massachusetts and works as a yoga teacher for at-risk elementary school students in Boston. He reveals that the house Daphne is staying in is owned by the Weinberg family, who had been paid generously to rent the space for the wedding party. Daphne and Nick get to know each other, and she finds his humbler background refreshing. Towards the end of the night, Drue and her father get into an argument about the money he’s spending on the wedding.

Daphne brings a glass of water to Drue, who is crying alone in her room. Drue says that her parents are getting a divorce and her wedding is her mother’s last chance to get back financially at Drue’s father. Drue refuses Daphne’s attempts to get Stuart.

Daphne leads Drue through the deck and is taken off guard by a young man who looks like Nick. He asks if Drue is okay and introduces himself as an employee of Mr. Cavanaugh. He ends their conversation quickly, leaving Daphne to wonder about his attachment to Drue. On the deck to her own room, she finds Nick waiting for her with a drink. She and Nick go into the hot tub attached to her room. Nick admits that he saw Stuart on the beach with another woman. Based on his description, Daphne figures that the woman was Corina. She wonders if she should tell Drue but worries that Drue doesn’t trust her enough to take in the warning. Nick suggests that it’s possible that Drue knows and has an arrangement with Stuart. Nick and Daphne kiss in the hot tub. Daphne decides to let go of her self-consciousness and they have sex. Nick spends the night with her and they have sex two more times. Later, she becomes aware suddenly that he is gone.

Daphne checks her deck for Nick and finds Drue floating face down in the hot tub. She tries to pull Drue out of the water and give her CPR while screaming for help. She senses that Drue is dead.