The narrator and main character of this novel, Lara Jean Song Covey, goes to a New Year’s Day celebration with her family: her widowed father, her older sister Margot, and younger sister Kitty. The celebration is at their Aunt Carrie and Uncle Victor’s house; their grandmother is also there, as are their cousins Harry and Leon—who are twins—and Haven, the twins’ older sister. The celebration is a traditional Korean celebration, and Kitty and their sisters wear hanboks, a traditional Korean costume for women. 

Lara Jean is preoccupied with a letter that she wrote to her classmate Peter Kavinsky, the letter appears as a prelude in this novel. It is a love letter; she has it in her pocket. Lara Jean has written several love letters to boys in her class which she intended to keep private; however, the letters were distributed by her mischievous sister Kitty. These background events all take place in the prequel to this book, To All of the Boys I’ve Loved Before. 

Upstairs in Haven’s room after the celebratory dinner, the girls all look at a photo that Haven has on her computer of Lara Jean and Peter snuggling during a class ski trip.