Hoover begins and ends her novel from the perspective of teenage Morgan and Clara. In the final years of childhood, teenagers often struggle to balance the need for comfort and stability with their desire for independence. Hoover highlights this struggle in her exploration of both Morgan and Clara as teenagers. As Morgan and Clara learn to live for themselves, they discover that the mistakes they make in adolescence teach them invaluable lessons that usher them into adulthood.

As a teenager, Morgan feels an immense emptiness despite her close relationships with her boyfriend Chris and her sister Jenny. Neglected by their mother after their father’s death, Morgan and Jenny can only look out for each other; as the more responsible—though still immature—sibling, Morgan is essentially forced to grow up and parent her sister. She finds respite only in her friendship with Jonah, her boyfriend’s best friend and her sister’s boyfriend. Terrified of her feelings for Jonah, Morgan finetunes her habit of denying her true feelings. Her sudden pregnancy at age 17 offers her an escape from her feelings even as it shoves her further out of childhood. Years later, at age 34, Morgan still feels like her adolescent self as her intense focus on Clara has arrested her development.