We'll Always Have Summer Summary

We'll Always Have Summer is told largely in the first person by Belly, with a few chapters from Conrad's point of view:

Structure at a glance

• Belly's narration. Most of the story follows Belly, now eighteen and in college
• Conrad's chapters. Several chapters reveal Conrad's hidden feelings and perspective
• The engagement. Jeremiah's proposal sets the central conflict in motion
• Cousins Beach. Much of the action returns to the Fishers' beloved summer house
• The epilogue. A present-tense flash-forward resolves the trilogy's central question

As the final book in the trilogy, it pays off years of romantic tension between Belly, Jeremiah, and Conrad. (Spoilers for the ending follow.)

This summary of We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han picks up two years after the previous book. Belly is finishing her first year of college and has been dating Jeremiah Fisher, having grown apart from his older brother Conrad after the death of the boys' mother, Susannah. Belly and Jeremiah seem happy, until Belly hears a rumor that Jeremiah cheated on her with another girl during a spring break trip.

Hurt and shaken, Belly confronts Jeremiah. Desperate to prove his commitment, Jeremiah impulsively proposes marriage. Though hesitant, Belly accepts, and the young couple decides to marry that summer. Belly's mother, Laurel, is furious and disapproving, refusing at first to help with, or even attend, the wedding. Meanwhile, the story reveals through his own chapters that Conrad still loves Belly but believes he lost his chance and has no right to interfere with his brother's relationship.

As told in this We'll Always Have Summer summary, much of the action moves to the Fishers' beach house in Cousins as Belly plans the wedding. Conrad is staying there too, and as he and Belly spend time together, old, buried feelings resurface. Their emotionally charged moments deepen Belly's uncertainty even as her wedding to Jeremiah approaches. Conrad, unable to hold back any longer, confesses that he loves Belly and always will, though she initially rejects him.

The wedding weekend brings everything to a crisis. Jeremiah learns of Conrad's confession, and the brothers, long divided by their love for the same girl, come to blows. Forced to confront the truth, Belly and Jeremiah realize that they are holding on to a relationship that isn't meant to last, and that Jeremiah will never truly be her first choice. The wedding is called off, setting the stage for the trilogy's final resolution about who Belly is truly meant to be with.

We'll Always Have Summer ends with Belly and Conrad finally together, closing the trilogy's central love triangle. After the wedding to Jeremiah is called off, the two acknowledge that they were not right for each other and that Jeremiah could never be Belly's true first choice. The fallout is painful, especially between the brothers, but it clears the way for the truth.

The novel then jumps forward in time in an epilogue. Belly, now in her early twenties, narrates how she studied abroad in Spain during college, where she and Conrad began writing letters to each other and slowly fell in love all over again. They reconnected in person around her college graduation, rekindled their relationship, and Conrad eventually proposed.

In the closing scene, Belly and Conrad marry at Cousins Beach, the place that has always defined their lives and love. Notably, their relationships have healed: Jeremiah attends the wedding, signaling that the brothers have reconciled. Instead of rushing to the reception, the newlyweds run down to the ocean and jump into the waves together, just as they did as children. The conclusion of this summary of We'll Always Have Summer is a bittersweet but hopeful ending: after years of love, loss, and growing up, Belly ends up with Conrad, the first boy she ever loved.

Here are some of the most loved quotes from We'll Always Have Summer by Jenny Han. These verbatim lines capture the novel's romance and emotion:

"He didn't give me flowers or candy. He gave me the moon and the stars. Infinity."

"But just because you bury something, that doesn't mean it stops existing. Those feelings, they'd been there all along. All that time. I had to face it. He was part of my DNA."

"This is our start. This is the moment it becomes real. We are married. We are infinite. Me and Conrad. The first boy I ever slow danced with, ever cried over. Ever loved."

These We'll Always Have Summer quotes are widely shared because they capture Belly's enduring love for Conrad and the emotional heart of the trilogy's conclusion.