Summary

In Chapter 1, Autumn pictures Finny’s car accident with his girlfriend, Sylvie. Autumn believes they were arguing about her. Sylvie was not wearing a seatbelt and flew out the windshield.

Autumn explains how she knows Phineas Smith—Finny—in Chapter 2. He is the illegitimate son of Aunt Angelina—her mother’s best friend and neighbor—and an older, wealthy man who is not in the picture. Autumn’s dad is always busy working. They live in Ferguson: “a small town in the suburbs of St. Louis” (12).

Autumn recalls how she and Finny were required to look up the meanings of their names at school. She did not realize then that Finny’s fatherlessness made him desperate for an “origin and a meaning” (12). Autumn grew up knowing she was pretty but weird. Finny always defended her from bullies. They spent all their time together...