A short novel of adolescence set on the Brittany coast during a summer holiday. Two teenagers, Phil and Vinca, have grown up together and are on the edge of adulthood, shy and awkward with one another. Their quiet bond is disturbed when Phil meets an older, worldly woman who draws him into his first experience of desire. Colette writes with delicate attention to the sea, the weather and the confusions of growing up. The story is a gentle, honest portrait of first love and the loss of innocence.