This Summer Will Be Different

Lucy Ashby first arrives on Prince Edward Island alone after her best friend, Bridget Clark, misses their flight. At Shack Malpeque, Lucy meets Felix, an oyster shucker with whom she shares instant chemistry. They spend a passionate night together at his oceanfront home, only for Lucy to realize the next morning that the house belongs to Bridget’s family and Felix is Bridget’s brother, known in the family as Wolf. Bridget’s rule for Lucy’s PEI visits had been clear: do not fall in love with her brother. Lucy and Felix agree to keep the encounter secret, never repeat it, and not fall in love.

Over the next several years, that pact repeatedly weakens. When Lucy’s aunt and boss, Stacy, decides to close In Bloom, Lucy visits PEI with Bridget and begins considering taking over the flower shop herself. Bridget enthusiastically supports the idea, helping Lucy imagine independence from her parents’ cautious expectations. At the same time, Lucy and Felix’s attraction resurfaces through family chores, oyster-shucking practice, and stolen moments, leading them to break their rules again. Lucy does take over In Bloom, but her work life becomes increasingly consuming.

Later visits and encounters deepen the bond between Lucy and Felix. During one Thanksgiving trip, Lucy sees Bridget’s pain over Joy McInnis, Felix’s ex and Bridget’s former best friend, whose breakup with Felix also damaged Bridget’s friendship with Joy. Felix unexpectedly arrives home, and he and Lucy sleep together again while pretending afterward that they can be normal. Two years before the present, after Hurricane Fiona damages PEI, Felix visits Toronto. Lucy is dating Carter, a safe but passionless choice, while Felix is seeing Chloe. Still, Stacy immediately senses the unresolved charge between Lucy and Felix and urges Lucy to be honest. In a bookstore, Lucy admits to Felix her secret dream of one day running a cut-flower farm, and he encourages it, beginning a private exchange of seeds and books that sustains their connection.

The previous summer, Lucy’s life collapses: In Bloom is vandalized, Carter breaks up with her, and Stacy dies of cancer after a brief reconciliation with Lucy’s mother, Cheryl. Bridget arranges for Lucy to recover at Salt Cottages, Felix and Zach’s PEI business. Felix tenderly cares for Lucy, cooking for her, giving her space, teaching her to drive stick, and supporting her grief. After he reveals he and Chloe have broken up, Lucy kisses him. Their relationship becomes emotionally serious, but after they spend an intense night together, Lucy panics. Afraid of damaging her friendship with Bridget and overwhelmed by obligations to In Bloom, she lies about a work emergency and leaves, believing Felix regarded the affair as casual. Felix, hurt, sends Zach to take her to the airport.

In the present, nine days before Bridget’s wedding to Miles Lam, Lucy is in Toronto preparing an elaborate floral arch and weighing a major contract with the Cena restaurant group when Bridget misses her final gown fitting and calls from PEI, sounding fragile. Lucy postpones work and flies to Charlottetown. Bridget claims homesickness drove her home, but her exhaustion, secrecy, and evasiveness about Miles make Lucy suspicious. Felix picks them up when Bridget’s car fails, and Lucy is immediately unsettled by his guarded attention. At Summer Wind, Bridget asks Felix to stay, but he resists, insisting the family house is no longer his home.

Bridget proposes a nostalgic PEI week: seafood, beaches, Green Gables, Felix’s oyster-shucking contest, and no wedding or work talk. Lucy notices Bridget’s distress over change and impermanence, especially at Thunder Cove, and also recognizes her own secrets: her farm dream, her feelings for Felix, and their history. Felix eventually stays at Summer Wind, and he and Lucy nearly give in to desire during a charged late-night bathroom encounter. They continue circling each other through breakfasts, road trips, and visits to Shack Malpeque, where Lucy apologizes for leaving abruptly the previous year.

As Bridget continues receiving tense messages from Miles, Felix confronts her about why she has called them home so close to the wedding, but she refuses to explain. Lucy follows Felix to the beach after the argument, and he draws out her frustrations about In Bloom. Lucy admits she loves the creative work but hates the managerial burden and still dreams of a flower farm. Later, during a trip to Green Gables without Bridget, Felix encourages Lucy to ask whether the big Cena opportunity is something she truly wants. He writes a hopeful message for her: Lucy’s happy ending.

At the Tyne Valley Oyster Festival, Lucy sees how deeply Felix belongs to PEI. Joy, now friendly again with Bridget, times Felix during the competition, and Ray McInnis, Joy’s father and Felix’s former mentor, supports him. Felix places third, and his public tenderness toward Lucy makes her both hopeful and afraid. A stormy trip to North Cape finally forces a reckoning. Lucy accuses Felix of mixed signals and only wanting sex; Felix reveals he wanted more all along and was hurt when she fled. They admit their feelings, agree they want more than a fling, and begin a real relationship.

While Bridget meets Miles in Charlottetown, Lucy and Felix spend a tender day together, discuss his painful history with Joy, and decide to go slowly. They make plans for long-distance visits after the wedding and prepare to tell Bridget. When Bridget returns with Miles, she finally reveals the truth: Miles has been promoted to run a Sydney office, and they will move to Australia for two years after the wedding. Lucy is devastated by the coming separation, but the friends confront how secrecy has strained them. Lucy confesses her relationship with Felix; Bridget already suspected and gives a cautious blessing, warning Lucy not to break his heart.

At Bridget and Miles’s Toronto wedding, Lucy creates her ambitious floral arch and attends openly with Felix. Bridget and Miles marry, Lucy gives an emotional toast naming Bridget as the love of her life, and the reception blends joy with the sadness of Bridget’s impending move. Afterward, however, Lucy panics while planning visits with Felix. Overwhelmed by work and loneliness, she blurts that she should move to PEI and in with him. Felix refuses to become her escape, insisting they need certainty rather than fear. They agree to take a breather, parting tenderly but unresolved.

Lucy grieves, then begins changing. Bridget leaves for Australia and reveals she is pregnant, making their airport farewell even more emotional. Farah confronts Lucy about micromanaging In Bloom, and Lucy learns to trust her with more responsibility. Lucy reconnects with friends and family, reduces her hours, resumes gentle contact with Felix through seeds, books, and cooking calls, and studies flower farming. Bridget, now in Sydney and expecting a girl, sends Lucy a Point Prim property listing. Lucy admits to her mother that she is falling in love with Felix and buys the PEI land sight unseen with Zach’s help.

In March, Lucy returns to PEI and brings Felix to the snow-covered Point Prim field. She reveals she bought it for her future flower farm because PEI is where she wants her life. She gives him an annotated copy of Anne of the Island and finally says she loves him. Felix declares that she fills all his dreams, and they reunite fully. Through the following months, they alternate visits between Toronto and PEI, meet each other’s families, and travel to Sydney to see Bridget, Miles, and newborn Rowan. Lucy proposes moving to PEI permanently, and Felix reveals he has already sketched plans for their house, barn, and greenhouse.

The next summer, Lucy and Felix host a housewarming at Primfield House, their nearly finished home and future farm. Farah manages In Bloom while Lucy travels to Toronto monthly. Felix surprises Lucy by bringing Bridget, Miles, and Rowan from Australia. Bridget toasts Lucy, Felix, friendship, and the unexpected routes love takes. Around a bonfire with family and friends, Lucy recognizes that this island life—with Felix, her farm, and her chosen family—is the future she wants.