Four months shy of turning 16, Lexi Montoya was still trying to come to terms with her parents' divorce and her mom's marriage to a man she met online, relocating to Maui, Hawaii.

Choosing to remain with her dad in Seattle, Lexi had planned to spend her first summer since the divorce hanging out with her boyfriend, Matt, and her best friend, Robin. But her dad had other plans, insisting she spend the summer visiting her mom and stepdad at his ranch called Paradise Ranch in Wailuku, west Maui.

Lexi went there with an attitude. Then she meets a cute Hawaiian guy named Mitsuo, is thrown into a love triangle, becomes friends with a teen girl named April who lives on a ranch next door, rides her first horse - an Arabian mare named Poppy - learns to hula dance and surf, and finds herself embroiled in a dangerous rescue mission when Poppy and another horse named Casper are stolen from her stepfather's ranch.

By the time her tropical summer adventure comes to an end, Lexi hates to leave Maui and say goodbye to Mitsuo. But can she stay when Matt is waiting for her back at home to pick up where they left off? Or will he lose her to a summer romance?