Beautiful People. Beautiful Lives. Ugly Secrets. Set in the Hamptons over the course of one tragic summer, the narrator becomes fascinated by the a mysterious young womanżs campaign to insinuate herself into the life of a beautiful ingénue,. In so doing, she is implicated in a tragedy that marks the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood. Stories of deceit and tragedy, celebrity, nouveau riche, and above all, relationships.