It's the start of another Carolina summer, and it's becoming increasingly clear to Frankie Wheeler, a young local, that she wants more out of life than Myrtle Beach can offer her. She spends her days working in her family's restaurant and wastes her nights hanging out on the boardwalk with her best friend, Nicola, proprietor of a piercing shop and self-proclaimed trouble seeker. Frankie has always played sidekick to Nicola, so neither is prepared when two new arrivals, a young siren hired as a waitress, and a drifter selling tie-dyes out of the back of his van, court only Frankie. Nicola's ensuing jealousy sets in motion a series of betrayals driving a wedge into their friendship and forces Frankie to take a stand for herself. Swimming is an intimate look at friendship, love and breaking away, set amidst the backdrop of a bustling beach town.