In the last episode of The Summer I Turned Pretty we left off with Belly flying to Paris after canceling her wedding. In this new episode, we see Belly is still in Paris. She’s on the phone with her mom while making Thanksgiving stuffing for her roommates that she’s having a hard time getting along with. She’s been managing online classes and 2 jobs. This is the first time Belly is experiencing life on her own. She said she felt “weak and homesick” after three months in Paris. Belly feels she hasn’t changed or learned enough to go back home. That’s why she chose to stay in Paris for the holidays.
Later that day, Taylor and Belly are on FaceTime and Belly asks her to come to Paris for New Year’s. Taylor agrees and the call quickly ends because Taylor has to get back to the Thanksgiving dinner Steven is hosting. Here, we see Jeremiah is enjoying his solitude and trying to cope with Belly canceling the wedding, however he doesn’t do so in the best way. We also find out Jeremiah left his job and is currently living with Steven in his apartment. During the Thanksgiving dinner, Adam (his dad) finds out Jeremiah has been lying to him about living in the frat house. They start arguing, and Adam decides to cut Jeremiah off. Steven then kicks Jeremiah out, leaving him with nowhere to go. He ends up asking Denise if he can crash at her apartment, and she agrees for one week (plot twist, it lasted longer than a week!).
Moving on, we see Laurel and Conard discuss, on the phone, if Jeremiah would be fine with him coming over for Christmas. Conrad also asks Laurel if Belly is coming back home for the holidays, which Laurel then reveals that she’s staying in Paris for the holidays. Upon hearing this, Conrad finally decides to reach out to her and he starts writing a letter.
Back in Paris, Belly receives Conrad’s letter with slight shock. We then fast forward to Christmas Eve where we see her closing up the bar she works. Benito (one of her new Paris friends) shows up to Belly’s work. They leave together with Belly driving a moped.
Moving back to North Carolina, Steven, Laurel, and Adam are all at the Cousins summer house. Jeremiah is finally working at a restaurant and Steven has quit his job working for Adam. Everyone’s waiting for Jeremiah to come. He shows up but doesn’t get out of his car. Laurel goes to Jeremiah and Jeremiah tells her he can’t go inside the house yet because he’s not ready mentally; he says that the only thing he thinks about when looking at the house is Belly and Conrad. In the end, Jeremiah goes back to Denise’s apartment where she gives him advice to let go of Belly and Conrad and to not let anyone have power over him.
Later we see Taylor arriving in Paris; Belly shows her around and they go shopping to get ready for their New Year’s Eve party. While setting up for their party, Taylor asks Belly about her friend Benito, who was with them when they went shopping. Belly tells her he’s just a friend. Seconds later Jeremiah calls. He does so to let her know that he’s good and hopes she’s good too. During the party, Benito brings a package for Belly, which is from Conrad. Taylor and Belly opened it and inside was sour patch kids, a letter, and Junior Mint, the polar bear Conrad gifted Belly when they were younger. Afterwards, Taylor asks Belly whether or not she’s able to move on because of the fact that Conrad is sending her love letters. She tells her they aren’t love letters, their normal letters and the reason she’s afraid to move on is because she’s afraid she might hurt someone. Taylor tells Belly how “it’s kind of fitting that they both reached out to her on the last day of the year”. She says it feels like that chapter of her life is closed now. Belly essentially says that it is the end of an era and, at midnight, Belly shares a new year’s kiss with Benito to show that she’s ready to move on.
After the New Year’s Eve party, we see Belly is now with Benito and her French has also improved. Belly’s friends are moving, Gemma offers to let her rent the apartment; it’s a one year lease. Belly’s skeptical but she talks about it with her mom and realizes, if she wanted it, she could make it work.
Later we see that Jeremiah runs into Conrad when they’re both leaving flowers at their mother’s grave. After talking about everything that happened with Belly, Jeremiah forgives Conrad. Jeremiah tells Conrad that he could’ve never competed with what Conrad and Belly had. He tells Conrad to do whatever he has to do and to not waste this chance.
When Belly finally writes Conrad back, she thanks him for Junior Mint and tells him that she’s doing well; she also writes the address to her new apartment. Afterwards, we learn that Conrad gets invited to a conference in Brussels, which is about an hour train ride from Paris. We see Conrad at the airport switching his flight to Paris and then Belly in Paris about to get a bob, and this is where the episode ends!
What will happen next? Will Belly rekindle her relationship with Conrad, or will she stay with Benito?
