David Nicholls writes a sweet, nostalgic coming of age story of first love, a heady affair composed of teenage angst, insecurities, fear, jealousies, fraught emotions and all the mass of confusion that besets the teenage soul at the tender age of sixteen. In the present, Charlie is preparing to get married, but can't help looking back to 1997, school had broken, aware he has not done well in his exams, an endless summer lies in front of him, unsure of what the future holds for him but feeling that desperate sense of dread. His mother has left his depressed and unemployed father for another man, leaving Charlie with the responsibility of caring for him. He works at a petrol station where he runs a scam, socialising with his gang of three male friends. Charlie bumps into Fran Fisher, falling for her, but there is a fly in the ointment.