Jenny Han’s “The Summer I Turned Pretty” television adaptation made a splash last summer with all kinds of young adult romance and drama. Lola Tung brought main character Isabel “Belly” Conklin to life as she returned to Cousins Beach, where she has spent every summer of her childhood with her mother’s best friend Susannah Fisher (Rachel Blanchard) and her sons Conrad (Christopher Briney) and Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno). Belly’s glow-up did not go unnoticed by both Fisher brothers, but she opted to strike up a romance with Cam Cameron (David Iacono) instead before things got a bit messy. A volleyball tournament and debutante ball drove last season’s plot, as did certain relationships.
Season 2 launched July 14 with new episodes rolling out weekly, expanding upon the events that drove the end of Season 1 home — Susannah’s cancer diagnosis, Belly and Conrad’s kiss and more. Kyra Sedgwick and Elsie Fisher joined Season 2 in new roles that weren’t in Han’s books (or the first season). Before diving into the first three episodes that drop with the show’s premiere, TheWrap has revisited the main events of Season 1 to refresh memories.
Here’s a complete “The Summer I Turned Pretty” Season 1 recap.
Belly Hopes This Summer Will Be Different
Ahead of leaving for her annual summer trip to Cousins Beach, Belly expressed her hopes that this summer will be different than all the others, meaning she’ll experience some romance and be more included with the boys. Her best friend Taylor Jewel (Rain Spencer) told her it was time to either make a move or move on from her longtime crush on Conrad Fisher, the oldest of her mother Laurel’s best friend Susannah’s sons.
When Belly got to Cousins, both boys noticed her glow up right away, which set the tone for the difference that Belly wants.
Belly Meets Cam Cameron at a Beach Bonfire
Belly’s brother Steven (Sean Kaufman) and the Fisher boys didn’t include Belly in the first party invite of their summer, but she decided to go anyway. In past summers, she stayed in for movie nights with the moms. When she turned up at the bonfire, only Jeremiah was excited to see Belly. Steven was walking around with Shayla (Minnie Mills) and Conrad was getting cozy with Nicole (Summer Madison). Belly sat off by herself, but Cam Cameron approached her because he remembered her from a Latin event they attended when they were younger. Belly got to know Cam, who gave her his sweatshirt, but she got distracted when Conrad got in a fight, and she got a black eye from trying to break up the fight.
Cam offered to take her home after cops broke up the bonfire, but Jeremiah wouldn’t let her go home with someone she just met, so Belly and Cam kissed in front of both brothers before saying goodbye. The two struck up a romance (mainly because Belly was tired of waiting around for Conrad to get his act together), but she realized those feelings won’t completely go away, so she ended things with Cam just short of asking him to be her date to the Deb Ball.
Belly and Jeremiah Kiss
Midway through Season 1, Jeremiah expressed his more-than-friendly feelings for Belly, and she responded by kissing him. They kindled a romance from that moment on, but they never labeled it. Belly didn’t act on Jeremiah’s feelings in Han’s first book.
The Volleyball Tournament
Susannah organized a volleyball tournament to raise money for charity, and Belly recruited Taylor to play on her team in the sand arena. Steven and his deb date and girlfriend Shayla also played on a team, and the bracket narrowed down so the siblings faced each other in the finals. Taylor “hurt her ankle” and told Jeremiah to sub in for her (to try and get him to win Belly over romantically). Jer and Belly played really well for starters, but then he started getting distracted, and he didn’t dive for the ball.
Belly, who got really competitive on the court, asked Conrad to sub in for Jeremiah, and they ended up winning the whole tournament, defeating Steven and Shayla. The mood got slightly ruined when Belly realized that Conrad didn’t just offer to go to the deb ball with her of his own will, because Susannah came up to them to check if Conrad had asked Belly yet.
Skinny Dipping Gone Wrong
Belly started on rocky territory with Nicole, but since Nicole was her “big sister” for the ball, they became friends — until Nicole realized Conrad had feelings for Belly. The fateful text came when the girls decided to go skinny dipping one night, and Gigi (Lilah Pate) thought Conrad had texted Nicole, but once they realized he had texted Belly’s phone, Gigi and Nicole left Belly and Taylor in the water without their clothes. The brothers had to come pick them up after they tried to walk home sharing a towel for cover.
At that point, Belly was pissed at Conrad, so she wanted to go home with Jeremiah. When she did, she asked him to be her date to the Deb Ball, and then he got to second base with her!
The Deb Ball
The whole season built up to what became a devastating debutante ball for many involved, though there were moments of levity and love as well. Jeremiah escorted Belly as her date, but he had been getting inklings all summer that something wasn’t right with his mom. She tripped at the entrance to the ball, and he overheard Belly’s parents discussing the cancer diagnosis. Conrad had previously revealed he knew about his mom’s cancer to Cleveland Castillo (Alfredo Narciso) when Cleveland helped him recover from a panic attack. Jeremiah took Susannah’s phone and snuck out to look through her emails, but of course, this happened right as the debs were supposed to dance with their dates. In a well-engineered moment set to “The Way I Loved You (Taylor’s Version),” Conrad stepped up to dance with Belly when his brother was nowhere to be found. Afterward, he said he was glad it was him, plus he remembered all the steps.
In the wake of a dramatic deb ball where Jeremiah closed out the night by starting a fight with Conrad, Belly, Steven and the boys learned of Susannah’s cancer diagnosis. The emotional scenes that followed between the mothers and their children wrenched hearts. Susannah caved to her sons when they asked her to do a trial for treatment, so the show ended on a hopeful note there. Belly went out to the beach where she found Conrad, and they talked everything through. Then they FINALLY kissed, set to “This Love (Taylor’s Version).”
