After high-school senior Harper is rejected from NYU, the only school to which she applied, she is too ashamed to tell her friends and family. Instead, she announces that she rejected NYU, choosing instead to stay at home in Boulder, Colorado, to pursue her dream of writing. Her decision sparks an unexpected, explosive reaction in her three best friends, who decide to join the "Dream Train", too: Sophie heads to Hollywood to act; Becca flies to Middlebury College, where she will ski for a top coach; and Kate defers her Harvard admission (and the expectations of her high-achieving parents) to travel through Europe and discover herself. Alternating chapters follow the girls throughout their first months of independence, heartbreaks, upsetting setbacks, romance, sex, and thrilling self-discovery.
