Max and Sadie have been attached at the hip for as long as anyone can remember.
So it's no shock when Sadie gets in trouble with the law and her father and oh-so-young step-mother send her to live in Nebraska with her real (absent) mother that Max is brought along.
Max, while taking care of Sadie, which has always been her full time job, is dealing with family issues of her own, with a father that worries and a mother that doesn't want to live.
Nebraska is nothing compared to their home in Seattle. It's better, bigger and far away from Max's family problems and she couldn't be happier. Sadie on the other hand is trying to gain the love of her mother Lark that for so long has neglected her.
The two girls are put to the test through physical labor at Lark's Organic Farm commune, until Sadie gets mono and is no longer able to work alongside her partner in crime.
For the first time, Max is left on her own and while she may get lonely, the space in between her and Sadie is exactly what she needed. While Sadie may need Max, Max may not need Sadie as much.
While Sadie is out of the way and confined to her trailor where she is catered on by her mother and loving it, Max is on her own and in the company of Dylan, a quiet, bad boy that makes Max blush.
Max falls for Dylan and his dangerous ways until Sadie comes back into the picture and it all becomes to much for Max, who was used to being on her own without the constant approval and rivalry of Sadie.
But it's Max who wins in the end, when things become too much and she can no longer be the only one who loves Sadie. Max packs up and heads home to confront her problems after saving herself.
Max slowly learns that love is a hard concept and friends come and go. But the most important lesson of all is finding out that the only person that can save you, is yourself.
This story exemplifies that no matter what, some relationships are meant to grow while others are meant to fizzle.
A great novel that offers a different approach in a friendship.