 As Channe begins to be interested in other boys, she distances herself from Francis who confesses to her that he had a little crush on her.The family's French idyll is disrupted when Bill Willis plans a return to the United States because he wants American doctors to treat his heart condition

The family moves to New England during the 1970s.Their future is threatened by Bill's declining health, Marcella's alcoholism, and the struggles of Channe and Billy to adapt to American high school.