Claire Bryte Cloud is experiencing her first summer alone at age eighteen. Claire and her brothers are orphans - turned over to the Qualla Boundary Orphanage in Cherokee, North Carolina at three days old. They were fortunate to be raised primarily by Henry and Louetta Wolfe of the Cherokee Tribe and Maxine McKee Cook - an avid Quaker. Claire chooses to live at the ocean for her first summer away from her brothers. She chooses her destination by throwing a dart at a map of the North Carolina coast - the dart lands on Holden Beach. Claire plans to write but she does anything but that. She misses her brother more than she bargains for and manages to find the Como Family who own a nearby restaurant. Claire learns to enjoy her solitude but she makes friends at Holden that she will keep for a lifetime. She rides the Southport Ferry and discovers the un-church and the Mermaid. The summer ends up being fun for her but also confusing since she definitely enjoys the company of the Como boys. At one point her life is so crowded and confusing she makes a field trip to Charleston where she meets someone who will change her life forever. Claire is a funny girl, full of wit and humor; she makes friends easily. She has no realization of how she affects the people in her life but she takes friendship seriously and treasures each person she meets. At the end of the summer Claire intends to go back to school in Boston alone. Things work out a different way when makes the crossing over the Holden Beach Bridge. A Summer Alone is full of humor and wisdom and Claire is a strange mix of an old soul who is coming into adulthood.