Variation

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of physical and emotional abuse and cursing.



Seventeen-year-old Hudson Ellis swims in the ocean off the coast of Cape Cod. He is training to become a Coast Guard rescue diver, with plans to move to Sitka, Alaska. The water is rough, so his older brother, Gavin, calls him into the boat. 

On their way back to shore, Gavin sees two young girls in a rowboat. As he and Hudson debate what to do, the rowboat capsizes. Despite Gavin’s protests, Hudson puts on two life vests and dives in to save them.

The two girls are clinging to the side of the capsized boat. Hudson learns that Allie is 16 and Eva is 14. He tries to convince Allie, who has a head injury, to go back to the boat with him first, but she refuses to leave her sister. Hudson gives up both of his life vests to the girls, and the three of them swim to Gavin’s boat.

Gavin helps them in, and Hudson gives Allie his sweatshirt and Eva several towels. Gavin scolds his brother for diving into the water and tells Hudson that he knows the two girls.