Katie Sullivan is the main character and narrator of the novel. She is in high school, and it is the summer between her junior year and senior year. Katie works as a waitress at the Gull N Gulp, which is a local seafood place in small seaside town of Eastport, Connecticut.
Katie is an environmentalist. For this reason, she opts to ride her bike around town rather than have a car. Additionally, she uses the money she makes to buy equipment and supplies for her passion, photography. Rather than work to save for a car, Katie is working and making payments on a very expensive camera that she has on layaway at the local photography shop.