This book follows Rumi Seto, a 17-year-old girl who has recently lost her sister, Lea, to a car accident while they were writing a song. Lea and Rumi were very close before Lea died and all Rumi wanted to do with her life was make music with her, so Rumi finds it very hard to move on. Because her mother needs to "grieve alone", she sends Rumi to her aunt Ani's in Hawaii for the summer. Rumi is angry about being left by her mother and determined to finish the song, "Summer Bird Blue" even though music hurts her. She becomes friends with the neighbors- easygoing teen surfer Kai Yamada and grumpy old man George Watanabe.
- Dark and Troubled Past:
- -Rumi has one- her father left when she was very young, she had to be a second parent to Lea, her mother wasn't around enough, and the one person she loves more than anything, Lea, is dead.
- -Mr. Watanabe also has one- both his wife and his son died of cancer, and his son was very young, too.
- Death of a Child: Lea was only fifteen when she died. Mr. Watanabe's son was even younger, although it was never specified.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mr. Watanabe- he appears to be grumpy and mean at first, but he grows to love Rumi and Rumi considers him a friend.
- Posthumous Character: Subverted. Lea appears in one scene at the beginning, and in lots of flashbacks, but for almost the entire main plot, she is dead.
- The Unfavorite: Subverted. While Rumi believes she is her mother's least favorite child, in reality her mother loves her and Lea equally and only left Rumi with Aunty Ani to check herself into a mental hospital.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Lea is mentioned to be especially kind and selfless, and she dies.
