The book opens as Julie Bean, an 18-year-old guitarist, aspiring obstetrician, and lover of Turner Classic Movies, joins her best friend's boyfriend's band the summer before her sophomore year of college. She grows to love the life of a musician and finds a sort of home at the cafe in which they play, but her life is far from carefree; we watch as she juggles a difficult relationship with her parents, her sister's struggles for acceptance, a controlling new boyfriend, and a growing sense that there is more to her identity than she once believed. As her relationship with the band's fiddle player blossoms and takes Julie into uncharted territory, it ends up touching all corners of her life in ways she could never have predicted. Highlights include danishes, a baby swap, a strategic pie, a stage that's too small, the worst band tour of all time, and almost driving to Montreal by accident.