After fallout from a story, reporter Melanie goes home to Cherry Springs for a break. When a friend disappears, she uses her skills to get to the truth, to the local detective’s dismay.

Brooke McQueen, a popular cheerleader at Jacqueline Kennedy High School, and Sam McPherson, the editor of the school paper, are polar opposites. When their single parents unexpectedly meet and get engaged, Brooke and Sam have to deal with their new situation on top of regular teenage girl problems.

Not Waving But Drowning is a chronological look at growing up, formed from two different stories. The two sets of friends represent the American dilemma between what you have known and what you hope to know; the tear between longing for the past and the desire to explore.