Realistic novel of an adolescent girl's love affair set for a few days one summer in the 1940s in a small city not far from New York City. Attractive, literary, voluble Anne Armacost, 17, just graduated from high school and planning on college, lives in a middle-class community with her loving and supportive family. The family consists of her father, a high school English teacher, her mother, her older sister, Theo, 23, a nurse, and her brother, Johnny. The book tells of her romance with handsome Douglas Eamons, a college freshman. Another romance involves Theo, who meets the handsome Paul Favor. Contrasting with these love stories is that of Nora Chapin, Anne's high school chum, who is married to a friend of Doug's. Anne has to learn not to be too possessive, to realize that young romance may not last forever, and that one's first love may not merit long term devotion.