[1] The majority of the novel, set in 1969, focuses on 14 year old Evie Boyd, who, feeling isolated and unloved, spends her summer on a ranch with a group of teenage girls devoted to an aspiring musician named Russell Hadrick.

While there she thinks that house is being broken into and comes to realize it is only Dan's teenage son Julian and his girlfriend Sasha who have arrived unannounced.

All of this boredom is finally put to rest when Evie sees a group of ragtag girls hanging around the town and dumpster diving.

This time they bring her to the ranch on Edgewater Road where they live where they introduce her to Russell Hadrick, their enigmatic leader.

Evie continues to visit the ranch and the girls over the course of the summer, stealing money from her mother to give to them and pretending that she is spending time with Connie.

She also learns that Mitch Lewis, a famous singer, is a patron of Russell's and has promised to help him obtain a record deal.

When they arrive Tom is disgusted by the air of decay while Evie is surprised to find the atmosphere of the ranch changed and depressed.

As they are driving to Mitch Lewis's home Suzanne sees Evie looking at her with love and desperation and kicks her out of the car.

[4] NPR and The New York Times also reviewed the work, the former of which wrote that "Emma Cline's thoroughly seductive debut novel, The Girls, re-imagines the world of Charles Manson's female followers, and does so with a particularly effective literary device.