Logan Witherspoon is a high school senior in the small town of Boyer, Missouri. When confident, eccentric Sage Hendricks walks into his biology class, Logan immediately develops a crush on her. But Sage is weirdly secretive about her personal life, and eventually she tells Logan the reason - she's transgender. At first Logan is enraged and never wants to talk to her again, but soon his anger cools, and he wants to become friends again with Sage and learn to understand her.
Almost Perfect contains examples of:
- Bungled Suicide: In sixth grade, after years of wearing her mother or her sister's clothes in secret, Sage realized that she was going to grow up to be a man no matter what she did. She attempted to slash her wrists, but barely scratched herself, and started bawling at the sight of blood. After that her parents made her see a psychiatrist, who told her that transition was possible, and she eventually worked up the nerve to come out to her parents.
- Dedication: "To my sister, Katie. See, there's a sister in this one. Happy?"
- Disappeared Dad: Logan's dad left the state when he was four. He never saw him again. He doesn't even have any pictures of his dad, so the only way he even knows what he looked like is from the Class of 1986 photo at school.
- Footsie Under the Table: During biology class, Sage puts her feet in Logan's lap while he gives her a foot rub.
- Heel Realization:
- Logan has two. The first is when he realizes how much he overreacted when Sage came out to him as transgender. He realizes that she didn't really lead him on or do anything to deceive him besides hiding her assigned gender, which he had no right to know anyway, and which she told him as soon as their relationship started to move past platonic. Later, he dumps her when Laura finds out she's trans because he's afraid word will get out and people will think he's a faggot, which leads to her getting violently beaten and hospitalized by a transphobic boy. Logan is angry at himself for jerking her around and resolves to stand by her no matter what.
- Sage's dad never learns to accept her as a woman, but he does eventually feel guilty about how horribly he treated her, and especially for telling her that he'd rather see her dead than wearing a dress.
- Holding Hands: Sage is forbidden by her parents from dating. Before she comes out to Logan as trans, she lets him hold her hand, but she won't let him kiss her.
- How Many Fingers?: Logan arrives at Laura's dorm room with a huge goose egg from getting punched by Sage's dad, who blames him for her getting beaten up. Laura's roommate Ebony, a nursing student, asks him, "How many fingers do you see?" Logan answers, "Three."
- It's All My Fault: Sage's younger sister Tammi blames herself for Sage getting beaten up by a transphobic boy because she encouraged her to come out to their parents years ago, knowing their parents would blow up. She admits in hindsight that although she did care for Sage, she also wanted to look good to their parents in comparison. While Sage was having regular screaming fights with her parents, Tammi was given much more freedom than other girls her age because her desires were "normal." Logan tells Tammi not to blame herself for anything because even though she wasn't perfect, she supported Sage for years when no one else did, and because if Sage hadn't come out and started living as a woman she probably would have killed herself.
- Let's Wait a While: When Logan meets Sage, he's still reeling from his breakup with Brenda Martin, his girlfriend of three years, who never let him get to second base. Her explanation was that when they did have sex, it would be even more special. Logan believed her until he found out she'd had sex with a guy she'd known for a week.
- New Transfer Student: Sage's family moved from Joplin to Boyer during November of her senior year. Logan is surprised, because people almost never move to a small, poor town like Boyer.
- Promotion to Parent: Logan's sister Laura is only a year older than he is, but a lot more mature. After their dad left and their mom was too busy to spend much time with them, Laura told him stories, played with him, made sure he did his homework, and kept him out of trouble. Even after their financial situation improved, Laura bought groceries and made sure the bills got paid. Now that she's in college, Logan and his mom barely know how to talk to each other.
- Stress Vomit: After Sage tells Logan she's trans, Logan goes to the school track, runs about eight miles, and then collapses and vomits. When Mrs. McGarvy calls his mom to ask if he's okay, Logan tells her he threw up from exhaustion.
- Struggling Single Mother: Logan lives in a trailer with his mom, who works long hours as a waitress to support them. Logan gives most of his lawn mowing money to her because she really needs it.
- Symbolically Broken Object: Logan has a shoebox full of mementos from his relationship with Brenda. Months after their breakup, he takes out a photo of the two of them that he used to carry in his wallet and rips it to shreds.
- Tantrum Throwing: Logan throws a snowball against a tree, pretending it's Sage's head.
- Their First Time: Sage and Logan spend a weekend visiting Laura at her college. After a wild frat party, Laura goes off with her boyfriend, so Sage and Logan have sex in her dorm room, although Sage keeps her shorts on.
- Title Drop: In her final letter to Logan, Sage writes, "I deserve someone who loves me the way I am. You deserve someone you can love without hesitation. We both came so close. But almost perfect isn't the same thing as perfect, is it?"
- When She Smiles: Sage isn't really conventionally attractive, but part of the reason Logan is attracted to her is because of her smile.
- Why Couldn't You Be Different?: Sage's father spent most of her childhood trying to make her act more manly by forcing her to play various sports she wasn't interested in. When she was thirteen, she could no longer live as a boy, so her parents pulled her out of school to homeschool her, allegedly for her safety, but really because her dad was ashamed of her. For the next four years, she was banned from having friends or leaving the house without her parents. When they went on family outings, it was always to another city where no one would recognize her. When Sage turned eighteen, she informed her parents that she was going back to public school and they couldn't stop her. They responded by moving halfway across the state to Boyer, where no one would know that Sage was anything other than a cis girl.
- Working Out Their Emotions: After Logan and Sage break up and Sage is assaulted, Logan throws himself into mowing lawns to distract himself.
- You Are Number 6: Tim's dog is named 4493 because that was what they called him at the animal shelter, and Tim is worried he'll be confused if they change his name now.
