One summer, 18-year old girl living in a dead-end town develops a crush on a college-aged lifeguard at her community pool named Jason Miller, who she always refers to using his first and last name. She thinks Jason Miller is ugly, due to his terrible acne, but she is attracted to him anyway and likes that she feels like she’s doing him a favor by flirting with him. The girl’s dad makes her get a job, so she works at a chain restaurant where her co-workers try to flirt with her. The girl is aware that she’s very attractive and sometimes relishes male attention but at other times is made uncomfortable by it. One day, Jason Miller comes into the restaurant and offers her a ride home. They decide to go to the pool, drink beer, and swim naked in the pool together. They kiss, but they don’t go further. The girl is upset and later calls him and asks why he didn’t fuck her, and Jason Miller says he wants to wait until they are someplace clean and safe.

A boy the girl used to fool around with comes by work and assaults the girl, forcing her against a wall and pressuring her to give him a blow job. The girl dissociates and throws up after.

The  girl’s friend from work, Manny, shows her pictures of his children in Mexico. The girl is jealous because her father would never show anyone pictures of her or handle things with care.

The girl no longer thinks Jason Miller is ugly and wants him to be her boyfriend. He’s kind to her, but she worries that men are untrustworthy. They go to his apartment and she spends the night. She’s upset that Jason Miller doesn’t want to have sex with her that night or the next morning. He says she doesn’t have to make everything about sex and she gets angry, says mean things to him, and leaves.

A few days later, Manny gets drunk and sexually assaults the girl in a parking lot after work. He claims it’s not rape because he stopped before penetrating her after tackling her to the pavement. The girl calls Jason Miller to come pick her up. He takes her to his apartment and helps her get undressed to clean up. The girl is sore and bruised and scraped all over. The girl confides to Jason Miller about these events and previous abuse she has suffered. She says she “gets why he doesn’t want to fuck her,” and Jason Miller says he wants to but is waiting until she’s ready--until she doesn’t flinch at being touched.

Jason Miller wants to meet the girl’s parents, even though the girl thinks they don’t deserve to meet him or know anything about her life. He comes over and her dad is rude to him and mean to the girl and her mom says nothing. Jason Miller comforts the girl in her room. The two start seeing each other almost every day and define the relationship. Jason Miller takes her to a baseball game and surprises her with a romantic evening. At work, Manny apologizes to the girl and the girl says, “I thought you were my friend,” and quits her job on the spot. She runs to Jason Millers apartment and tells him she loves him. He says he loves her.

Jason Miller returns to school, where the girl visits him every month. The girl starts applying to colleges and gains confidence. Boys leave her alone now. She worries Jason Miller will “become more like other boys.” The girl thinks about how her father sexually abused her growing up. She gets into three colleges and plans to attend one in the same city as Jason Miller, who worries she’ll leave him when she goes to college.

The girl takes Jason Miller to prom, where they have a great night. Before prom, the girl’s mom buys her an expensive dress with a secret stash of money the girl’s father doesn’t know about. The girl imagines her mother, too, hopes for a life free from her father. After prom, Jason Miller gives her a diamond necklace. Jason Miller comes to the girl’s graduation and the two finally have sex in a hotel room afterward. They’re both happy and in love.