The summer before her high school senior year, Californian Tami takes a job as a counselor at Camp Seafarer in North Carolina, where her mother and aunt spent childhood summers. She's diffident and glum, so on her second day at camp, when she's overslept the trip to hang out with boys at the beach, her boss somewhat tongue-in-cheek asks her to pair up with a reluctant camper, the ever-complaining Amanda, who at 10 complains of maladies and doesn't want to do anything. Tami takes Amanda out on a boat and as they nearly finish the exercises, Amanda discloses a real and natural problem to Tami. It may be just the unlikely ice-breaker Tami needs to enjoy her summer.