On a warm July night in 1974, six teenagers play at being cool. The friendships they make this summer will be the most important of their lives. But decades later not everyone can sustain in adulthood what had seemed so special in adolescence. As their fortunes tilt precipitously over the years, some of them dealing with great struggle, others enjoying wealth and success, friendships are put under the strain of envy and crushing disappointment against the backdrop of a changing America.