After a bad breakup, Adam Kavanaugh returns to his sleepy old river town to find himself. His family hasn't changed, but he has some work to do readjusting to small town life, so much that he wonders if he's made a mistake by coming home. But from the moment Leith Marshall pops out of the Ohio River and smiles at him, there's no turning back. Between Leith's swimmer body, sweet laugh, and gentle soul, Adam is head over heels. Leith lets Adam into his little world bit by bit, from his mother's abandoned aquarium shop to his elderly father's fairy tale delusions. Which might not be so delusional after all. Leith does have a certain affinity for water. It seems almost to listen to him. The current never pulls him downriver, the tub doesn't splash, and the pool hardly moves around him even at an all out sprint. He can't spend a night away from his river, and then there's the way he sings. Adam has to admit, he'd steer his ship straight into the rocks for that. So maybe Leith inherited a few things from his mysterious mother. It doesn't mean he'll disappear like she did. That's absurd. Right? By the River is the "water" in the Elementals project.

Rather than spend his first post-college summer on the beach with a hot boy and a margarita, Zane Woodward goes home. While the lectures aimed at getting him to be more respectable like his lawyer father aren’t appreciated, Zane wants to be near his sister and his best friend—both of whom he’s convinced need him. Enter Geordie Finsen: the Buddhist, blue-haired, stacked house sitter-next-door. Geordie has a penchant for parties, older women who can pay the bills, younger men who can wear him out—and he may or may not be able to control the weather. While Geordie and his philosophies begin untangling Zane from his own expectations and hang-ups, they bring the two closer and closer. Soon their chemistry flares into a hot and heavy summer romance. But Geordie has hang-ups of his own, including an aversion to getting too attached to anyone or anything. When things get a little too heavy between him and Zane, his instinct to cut loose and run free is tested, and Zane’s plans for a perfect escape of his own might never get off the ground.