Katie’s trip from Dallas to Miami is miserable: multiple flights, turbulence, a coughing seatmate, and a stranger’s Venti cinnamon latte spilled all over her. On arrival, her checked bags fail to appear, and she endures a long car rental wait before driving the Overseas Highway to Key West. The journey across bridges and islands lifts her spirits as the scenery and atmosphere feel unlike her usual corporate trips.

In Key West, Katie reaches the Starlite Cottages, where Rue, Cole Hutcheson’s aunt, greets her with a hug despite Katie’s bedraggled, coffee-soaked state. Rue immediately takes charge, offering to get Katie clothes and food and to swap Katie’s rental car for Rue’s Mini Cooper to save costs, explaining that she primarily gets around by bike. Katie recognizes that saving money could extend her stay and improve the project’s outcome.

Rue brings Katie to her boutique, Vitamin Sea, a riot of tropical color. As they browse, Rue talks about buying and renovating the cottages, moving in herself, and convincing her widowed friend Ginger to live next door. She also owns the building containing the boutique and several other businesses, joking that managing it all keeps her out of trouble.

Rue selects a vivid orange-and-pink caftan for Katie to wear while her coffee-soaked clothes are washed. Despite Katie’s resistance to bright colors and preference for neutrals, Rue frames it as temporary and prioritizes comfort over appearance; the shop has no mirrors because, Rue says, fashion should be about how you feel. Katie, braless and without underwear, reluctantly dons the silky caftan and, after spinning at Rue’s urging, experiences a fleeting moment of delight in the fabric’s movement.

Left alone in the shop while Rue starts the laundry, Katie is startled when a tall, buzz-cut, “manly” man enters and asks for Rue. Trying to pass as a mannequin to avoid attention, Katie responds minimally, but the man compliments her hibiscus hair clip and briefly meets her eyes. Katie is struck by his serious, kind, slightly melancholy brown eyes and handsome features, feeling an immediate, disarming attraction.

As he heads to the back, Katie realizes the man is Tom “Hutch” Hutcheson, the Coast Guard rescue swimmer she is in Key West to film, and Cole’s brother. The realization that her subject is Rue’s nephew and the object of her sudden attraction overwhelms her; she lowers her head to the jewelry counter as Rue returns, noting that Katie must be starving.