The novel tells the story of an independent-minded young socialite whose romantic dalliances grow increasingly serious when her parents leave her alone in New York City for the summer while they travel to Europe.

After taking an evening walk in Monroeville, Alabama, and being inspired to write his first published novel, Other Voices, Other Rooms, he set aside the manuscript.

On August 30, 1949, while vacationing in North Africa, Capote informed his publisher that he was approximately two-thirds through his first draft of Summer Crossing.

He optimistically spoke of finalizing the manuscript by the end of the year, even making a vow that he would not return to the United States until he did,[1] but he never submitted more than a first draft to his publisher.

The New York Public Library reached an agreement to buy the papers and archived them in its permanent Truman Capote Collection.

Grady McNeil, a 17-year-old upper class Protestant débutante, steadfastly refuses to accompany her parents on their usual summer ritual of travel, in this case to France.

Left in the city for the summer by herself, she pursues a covert romance with Clyde Manzer, a Jewish parking lot attendant, whom she had noticed several months earlier.

Grady has passed over a couple of opportunities to spend time with the handsome young Peter Bell, a man of her social stature who is romantically interested in her.