Raised on a small island in North Carolina's Outer Banks, Willa has a picture-perfect life: hanging out at the beach with her friends, living in a cozy sea-side cottage, working at a sailing store, and running a hugely popular sailing Instagram. When a group of followers enters her into High Seas, a televised national sailing championship, it should be no problem. Too bad Willa doesn't actually know how to sail at all. Desperate to avoid having her carefully curated life come crashing down around her, Willa tracks down Lane Cordova, the winner of four previous High Seas competitions, and begs her for a crash course in sailing before the race begins. But Lane's competence on the water is only matched by Willa's ineptitude, and her growing crush on Lane isn't helping matters. The competition threatens to go awry and take her entire idealised life with it.