Helen has just turned eleven. It is summer and she is in Bella Terra, an island off Italy where her family spends an idyllic few months each year. This time, though, everything is different. Her parents' marriage is simmering with tension. Lea, her 13-year-old sister, is becoming increasingly rebellious. Mr. Peters, their artist neighbor, and the Ashtons, glamorous friends of Helen's mother, add to the strain. It will be a hot, blue summer, a summer of love affairs, heartbreak and loss of innocence. And it will ultimately lead to a disappearance...