Spectacular Things

In 2028, Mia goes into labor, and her husband, Oliver, drives her to the hospital. Mia’s baby, Betty, is born healthy, but while giving birth, Mia sustains an injury to her kidney that results in chronic kidney disease. From that point on, Mia needs to have dialysis treatments for three hours each day.

At the same time, Mia’s sister, Cricket, is competing in the Olympics as a goalkeeper for the U.S. Women’s National Team. After Cricket and the U.S. team win gold medals, Cricket visits the hospital. When Cricket arrives, Oliver and Mia explain what has happened and then broach the subject of whether Cricket would be willing to donate a kidney to Mia. Cricket is enthusiastic at first, but when she learns that donating a kidney would bring her soccer career to an end, she becomes more hesitant. She tells Oliver and Mia that she’ll think about it and leaves.

The novel then flashes back to when Liz, Mia and Cricket’s mother, is a child in the suburbs of Virginia. While growing up, Liz is a soccer prodigy. During her senior year of high school, though, she becomes pregnant. She decides against having an abortion, and her parents don’t understand her decision. After Liz gives birth to Mia, her parents don’t come to visit her in the hospital. Liz then decides she needs a new start and moves to Victory, Maine.

After moving to Maine, Liz gets a job at the front desk at a dental office. She frequently trains Mia in soccer drills at a nearby beach. One day, a man named Q arrives at the house. Liz explains to Mia that Q is her (Mia’s) father. Liz and Mia both seem to enjoy having Q around, and he moves into the house. Not long after, though, Q disappears, and Mia doesn’t know why he left. After he leaves, Liz seems heartbroken.

Shortly after Q leaves, Liz finds out that she is pregnant. She then gives birth to Cricket. As Mia and Cricket grow up, it becomes clear that while Mia is a talented soccer player, Cricket is, like her mother once was, a prodigy. Cricket joins an elite team based in Portland, Maine and starts playing as a goalkeeper. Liz takes on a second job at a restaurant to help pay for the associated expenses, while Mia picks up the slack around the house when Liz is working.

Mia then applies to Yale and is accepted. During her first year of college, Mia does an internet search for her mother and Q. Through that search, Mia learns that Q was Liz’s high school soccer coach when Liz became pregnant with Mia. Mia also finds that several of Q’s former players have made allegations of sexual misconduct against him. Mia is angry and thinks that Q is a predator who should be in jail.

While home during a break from school, in 2019, Liz tells Mia and Cricket that two of her customers at the restaurant left her tickets to see the Women’s World Cup as a tip. The three travel to Paris to see the U.S. National Team play against France in the quarterfinals. On the way back, Mia asks Liz about Q being her high school soccer coach. Liz explains that during her senior year of high school, she thought she and Q were soulmates. But, she says, when he came to Maine when Mia was a child, Liz later learned that Q was addicted to alcohol and had been driving drunk with Mia in the car for the whole summer. At that point, Mia told Q to leave. Later, Liz says, she also found out about other former players’ allegations of sexual misconduct against him, and she now knows that he is a horrible person.

Mia returns to school after the break. One, while Liz is driving home after dropping off Cricket, an SUV hits Liz’s car, killing Liz almost instantly. In the aftermath, Mia drops out of school to be Cricket’s guardian, and she (Mia) gets a job at the front desk of a local veterinary clinic.

Meanwhile, in the midst of grief, Cricket continues to play soccer. She has her sights set on playing at UCLA, where Liz wanted to play before she became pregnant with Mia. During Cricket’s senior year of high school, Mia, who is now 22, becomes romantically interested in Cricket’s soccer coach, Oliver. At first, Mia tries to push those feelings aside to avoid upsetting Cricket, but eventually Mia and Oliver decide to start dating.

At first, Cricket is upset, but she gradually comes to accept Oliver and Mia’s relationship. Mia then goes to UCLA to play soccer. Instead of going to college, one of Cricket’s close friends, Sloane, who is also a goalkeeper, enters the draft for the National Women’s Soccer League. That causes Cricket to worry that Sloane is ahead of her professionally. At UCLA, Cricket meets a woman named Yasmine, and the two start dating.

After finishing college, Cricket enters the National Women’s Soccer League draft. She’s selected by a team in Chicago. The distance between Cricket and Yasmine puts a strain on their relationship and ultimately causes them to break up. Cricket’s team also finishes last in the league. At the same time, Sloane is also selected to be the starting goalkeeper for the U.S. Women’s National Team. Cricket begins to worry that her career is headed in the wrong direction, and she might not achieve her dream of playing on the U.S. Women’s National Team.

Cricket then goes home over a winter break. While she’s there, Oliver, her former coach, helps her train rigorously. At the end of the break, the coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team, Teague, invites Cricket to come to the team’s training camp in December.

When Cricket goes to the training camp, she plays well and is selected for the team. Later that summer, it’s the 2028 Olympics. Though Cricket has been playing better than Sloane, Teague selects Sloane to be the team’s starting goalkeeper. In the gold medal game, Sloane is injured in the final minutes. Cricket is then sent in and makes a game-winning save.

After winning the gold medal, Cricket travels home to Maine to see Mia, who is in the hospital after giving birth to Betty. Mia and Oliver explain to Cricket that Mia now has chronic kidney disease and needs a kidney transplant. After Cricket learns that donating her kidney would mean the end of her soccer career, she tells Mia and Oliver she’ll think about it and then leaves.

Cricket doesn’t speak to Mia after that for ten months. During that time, Cricket is also in a fight with Sloane, and the two aren’t speaking. Cricket’s heroics during the Olympics have garnered her media attention, a starting spot on the national team, and lucrative endorsement deals. Despite achieving all of her dreams, Cricket feels unhappy and alone. She calls Sloane and explains how unhappy she is, and Sloane tells Cricket that it’s okay to change her dream.

At that same time, Mia also decides to end her estrangement with Cricket and travels with Oliver and Betty to see one of Cricket’s games in California. Just before the game starts, Mia faints in the stands because the travel has been too demanding due to her kidney disease. Mia is then brought to a hospital. When Cricket hears that Mia has been brought to the hospital, she leaves the stadium before the game has started. At the hospital, Cricket tells Mia that she’ll donate her kidney to her.

After donating her kidney, Cricket must stop playing soccer, but she then becomes a goalkeeping coach on the U.S. Women’s National Team. Sloane becomes one of the team’s star players, and she and Cricket begin a romantic relationship and are later married. Mia and Cricket have also been reunited, and they both feel like they’ve found the happiness and sense of family they’ve always wanted.