Two writers, a writer's block, a lakeside holiday and a romantic comedy about to happen.
Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of classic novels. January Andrews writes romance stories. While her stories end with a happy ending, his books culminate in the tragic death or disillusionment of all the characters. For January, family has always been a support system, and Gus' childhood was no walk in the park. They are like night and day (or like January and August). But are all things in life really as they appear at first sight?
January arrives at her newly inherited house on the shores of Lake Michigan in a not-so-good mood: She is burdened by her father's death and the secrets she learned after his death. What's more, her new neighbour is Gus, a former college classmate with whom she has been competing for years. But they quickly discover that they have much more in common than just the experience of a long-ago college party. For example, the fact that they both suffer from the same inability to finish their books.
And so, on a gloomy evening, the two of them make a somewhat unexpected bet to get them out of their authorial crisis: Augustus spends the whole summer writing about something with a happy ending, and January tries to write the great American novel. She takes him on trips to places that include a good dose of romance for inspiration, while he takes her around the surviving survivors of a suicide cult (what else would you expect from him? ). The plan is that they will both finish their book and no one will fall in love with anyone. Seriously.
