Flipped recap

Neighbors Juli Baker and Bryce Loski have interpreted the same events differently since childhood: she adores him, while he avoids her and accepts his father's contempt for her unconventional family. Juli's attachment to a sycamore tree, the eggs from her backyard chickens, and a humiliating discovery about Bryce force her to reconsider his character. Bryce, prompted by his grandfather's friendship with Juli, begins noticing her courage and questioning his own cowardice. Learning about Juli's disabled uncle and spending time with the Bakers exposes the unfairness of his assumptions. By the time Bryce recognizes that he cares for Juli, she no longer trusts him. His public attempt to kiss her at a school auction drives her away. He finally makes a thoughtful gesture by planting a sycamore in her yard. Juli joins him, leaving them reconciled enough to begin again with a clearer view of one another.

When seven-year-old Bryce Loski moves in across the street, Juli Baker immediately decides that she likes him and tries to help his family unload. Bryce experiences the same encounter as an invasion and spends the following years trying to escape her attention without directly rejecting her. Juli interprets his nervousness as shyness and remains certain that he will eventually return her feelings. In junior high, Bryce pretends to be interested in Shelly Stalls in hopes that Juli will leave him alone. The plan produces jealousy and arguments but does not resolve the basic misunderstanding. Their alternating accounts establish that each child notices different details and assigns very different meanings to the same shared past.

Juli treasures the view from a large sycamore tree at a neighborhood bus stop and refuses to climb down when workers arrive to cut it down. Bryce does not support her public protest, and the loss changes the way she sees both the landscape and him. A science project gives Juli a small flock of chickens that soon produces more eggs than her family needs. She proudly begins bringing free eggs to the Loskis. Concerned that the Bakers' untidy yard might make the eggs unsafe, Bryce secretly throws them away rather than asking Juli or explaining his doubts. When Juli finally catches him, she learns that months of gifts have gone into the trash. Hurt by the waste and the deception, she stops speaking to him and begins questioning the handsome image she had loved.

Bryce's grandfather Chet Duncan befriends Juli and helps her transform the Baker front yard. Through Chet, Bryce learns that Juli's attachment to the sycamore expressed a way of seeing beyond isolated details, not mere stubbornness. Juli's successful egg project and newspaper recognition further undermine the Loskis' dismissive picture of her. Bryce grows ashamed of throwing away the eggs and of letting his family assumptions determine his behavior. Juli, meanwhile, evaluates Bryce more critically and wonders whether his attractive surface conceals a lack of courage. As her admiration diminishes, his curiosity and respect increase; the emotional positions they held at the start are beginning to reverse.

Juli learns that much of her parents' limited money goes toward the care of her father's brother David, who has an intellectual disability. A visit with David helps her understand her father's devotion and the pressures behind the family's neglected property. Patsy Loski invites the Bakers to dinner, bringing the neighboring families into closer contact. The evening exposes sharp differences between Richard Baker's support for his sons' musical ambitions and Steven Loski's bitterness about paths he did not pursue. Bryce is increasingly uncomfortable with his father's contempt and increasingly impressed by the Bakers' loyalty to one another. Juli can see that Bryce may be changing, but his earlier evasions and his willingness to go along with other people's cruelty have left her wary.

Bryce finally accepts that his feelings for Juli have reversed: he wants her attention just as she has withdrawn it. At the school Basket Boys auction, other girls bid for lunch dates with Bryce while Juli sits with two other boys. Jealous and unable to speak to her privately, Bryce tries to kiss her in front of the crowd. Juli flees, experiencing the gesture as another case of Bryce acting on his own wishes without considering hers. She refuses his attempts to contact her. Looking for a way to demonstrate that he now understands something important about her, Bryce begins planting a young sycamore in the Baker yard. The tree recalls both Juli's loss and the wider perspective she tried to explain. Juli comes outside and helps him plant it. Their past is not erased, but the shared task creates a tentative reconciliation and a more honest beginning.

At the school Basket Boys auction, classmates compete for lunch dates with selected boys. Juli attends but does not bid on Bryce. Overwhelmed by his changed feelings and by jealousy as she sits with other boys, Bryce tries to kiss her in front of everyone. Juli escapes, angry that he has again acted without understanding her. Bryce attempts to apologize, but she refuses contact. He then begins planting a young sycamore in the neglected Baker front yard, offering a living acknowledgment of the tree she loved and of the perspective he once dismissed. Juli watches, recognizes the meaning of the act, and goes outside to help him. They have not fully resolved their history or declared a romance, but they meet at the tree with a new willingness to see and trust each other. Their parents' tensions and Bryce's conflict with his father remain, while Bryce and Juli's relationship starts again on more equal terms.