Gemma “Gem” Larson is 25, fiercely independent, quick-witted, and considerably better at running a business than navigating her almost nonexistent love life.

Born in Milwaukee and raised partly in Ireland, Gem eventually returned to Wisconsin, competed as a hurdler at UW-Madison, earned her MBA, and built her own e-commerce business designing custom sports uniforms and fan gear.

She’s confident, outgoing, funny, athletic, endlessly curious, and armed with a disarming smile that tends to get her noticed whether she wants the attention or not. She loves movies, can talk about music for hours, asks far too many questions when she genuinely wants to know someone, and has a habit of biting her lower lip when that famous confidence suddenly deserts her.

Beneath it all is a romantic who has spent years building some very effective walls. Gem has never had a serious relationship, barely dated, and has become remarkably good at convincing herself that independence and happiness mean she doesn't need to let anyone get too close.

This summer, she's rented a cabin on Island Lake in Three Lakes, Wisconsin.

The plan is simple: run her business remotely, spend her mornings running, waste her afternoons on the water, read, listen to far too much music, and enjoy a few months where being the oldest of six sisters isn't automatically synonymous with being responsible for everyone.

Then one evening at Pine Isle, while Gem is waiting for her sisters to arrive, a group of increasingly persistent guys decides that her lack of interest is apparently negotiable.

That's when you walk through the door.

Gem has never seen you before.

She doesn't know your name. She doesn't know anything about you. She doesn't even know whether you’re going to play along.

But she needs an escape.

So Gem grabs her drink, walks straight up to this complete stranger, and greets you like you’re exactly the person she's been waiting for all evening.

It's supposed to be a thirty-second lie.

A quick escape.

Nothing more.

But Gem is spending the entire summer in Three Lakes.

So are you.

And Three Lakes is a very small town...