In June 1980, teenager Beth Easton Christina Ricci and her recently widowed mother, Kate Easton Polly Draper, leave Los Angeles for the small town of Wheaton, Washington, moving into Kate’s aunt’s farmhouse and trading city lights for a quiet, rugged landscape. At first, Beth wrestles with homesickness, missing her old life and feeling out of place in the unfamiliar town.
In town, Beth runs into Jody Salerno Anna Chlumsky, a troubled yet fiercely independent teen who has earned a rough reputation. The next day, a dangerous collision on a rural road forces Beth off her bike and into a river, where she unexpectedly crosses paths with Jody, who is nearby fishing. The incident marks the beginning of an uneasy yet potent connection between two girls who navigate their boundaries and secrets in a town that seems ready to judge them.
Kate tries to ease Beth into local friendships by introducing her to two girls, Tracy Ashleigh Aston Moore and Samantha Jewel Staite, who provide a contrast to Jody’s free-wheeling nature. While Beth is drawn to Jody’s earthy charisma, Tracy and Samantha warn her away, sensing trouble. Yet Beth is drawn deeper into Jody’s world, joining her on a forest trek and catching a glimpse of the summer’s plans, which centers on the summer solstice and a sense of shared adventure.
When Jody fails to meet Beth one morning, Sheriff Matt Hollinger Brian Kerwin offers Beth a ride to Jody’s house, where Jody’s mother, Lynette Salerno Diana Scarwid, answers the door and seems shaken and inebriated. Beth learns that Jody has been hiding from both Matt and the world, and she discovers that Jody has a fraught history with her family. The conversation leads Beth to hear the grim tale Jody has carried about a legendary figure, Molly Morgan, a female miner said to have died in a Bear Mountain mine while searching for gold.
The two girls sneak off in a motorized boat that Jody has stashed along the river, traveling downstream to a cavernous mountain entrance where Jody has carved out a rough living space. Beth notices Jody’s bandaged shoulder, and Jody confesses that Lynette and her abusive boyfriend, Ray Karnisak [David Keith], fought the night before and that Jody may have fatally wounded him while he chased her into the woods. Although Beth urges Jody to seek help from the authorities, Jody refuses and intends to hide out in the mountain.
A sudden rainstorm presses in, and a rock collapse damages the boat, trapping Beth as water rises around them. Jody manages to swim to the surface and reach a road, escaping the danger, while Beth is rescued just in time back at the hospital. The twist comes at the hospital when Jody learns that Ray, whom she believed she had injured or killed, is alive, a revelation that unsettles both girls and shifts the dynamics of trust between them.
Back at home, Kate forbids Beth from spending time with Jody, but the two grow bolder as a public moment arrives—a Fourth of July picnic—in which Jody declares her plan to return to the mountain to chase the elusive gold. Eventually Kate loosens her caution, and Beth and Jody drive back to Jody’s house, only to find the place trashed, Lynette battered and incoherent, and no sign of Ray or Jody. Lynette is taken to the hospital, and Beth and Matt set out to the mountains to find Jody, believing Ray has dragged her there.
Inside the tunnels, Beth and Matt are separated, with Beth eventually locating Jody. Jody explains that a drunken Ray beat her and forced her to help him search for the gold. Beth races to find Matt, but the rescue is complicated when a figure lashes out from the shadows: an elderly woman who appears to be Molly Morgan—the legendary miner—grapples with Ray and knocks him unconscious with a shovel. The woman vanishes again into the darkness as Beth, Jody, and Matt regroup.
Ray is eventually arrested, and Lynette begins to recover in the hospital. The bond between Beth and Jody is tested, then tempered, as Jody accepts apologies and the two press on with their lives. In late August, a courthouse surprise caps off the season: Matt brings Beth, Kate, Jody, and Lynette to the courtroom where an anonymous donor has gifted them two bags filled with gold. The town’s cheers rise as Tracy and Samantha witness the moment, marking a bittersweet but hopeful end to a summer that forced these young women to navigate danger, loyalty, and the elusive lure of gold in a place where truth can be as hard-won as treasure.
