People We Meet on Vacation: Ten Trips, One Very Long Silence, and a Netflix Movie With Some Explaining to Do
Emily Henry's 2021 novel has a premise that sounds simple until you try to explain why it hits as hard as it does. Poppy Wright and Alex Nilsson have been best friends since the first week of college. They are polar opposites in every meaningful way, somehow inseparable anyway. For ten summers in a row, they take one trip together. No significant others, no agendas, just the two of them and wherever they end up. Then something happens in Croatia. They stop talking for two years. Now Poppy wants one last vacation to try to fix things and maybe finally say what has been there the whole time.
The Book
The dual timeline structure does real work here. The book flips between the present-day trip and flashbacks to earlier vacations, stitching together a relationship slowly while building toward the moment that broke it. You know something happened in Croatia. The whole book is the answer to what, and why, and whether anything can be undone. Henry earns the slow reveal.
What actually works is the banter. It is funny in a way that feels specific to these two people rather than generically charming, and their dynamic has a rhythm that makes twelve years of friendship feel earned rather than just stated. The setting does its job too. They are in Palm Springs. You feel the heat. Poppy should have showered more given that heat. If you read the book, you will understand exactly what we mean by that.
The central conflict is where we had some disagreements. The two-year silence requires both characters to make choices that are emotionally coherent and practically baffling in equal measure. Emily Henry has said in interviews that was intentional, and the backstories of both characters make the case for it. Whether it fully lands depends on how much patience you have for a certain kind of rom-com rite of passage, and we did not all have the same amount.
The Netflix Movie
The movie dropped January 9, 2026, directed by Brett Haley, with Emily Bader as Poppy and Tom Blythe as Alex. Bader is magnetic and chaotic in exactly the right ways. Blythe plays reserved-with-warmth well, and he is considerably more appealing here than as a blond in Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes. Their chemistry is real. The movie lives or dies on whether you believe these two people, and it largely does.
What the movie does with the rest of the story is the conversation we spent most of the episode having. No spoilers here. Come listen.
We rated both the book and the movie. Our counts did not align, which is our way of saying we had things to say. We always do.
Who Is This For
- Friends-to-lovers fans who want the trope done with real craft
- Anyone who wants something funny without trying too hard
- People who like a story that makes you feel like you were there for every stop
- Anyone who wants a Friday night romcom that requires nothing from you
Not for you if:
- Miscommunication plots make you want to throw things
- You loved the book and have strong feelings about what gets left out
- You need the pacing to stay tight from start to finish
- You're already over Emily Henry (she is not for everyone and that is fine)
Podcast Episode
We talk through the book and the movie in full this episode, including what worked, what we would have changed, and the question that split us most. Three very different opinions, as usual.
Find us on your favorite podcast app or at linktr.ee/chapteronesceneone.
If You Liked the Book, Try:
- Beach Read by Emily Henry
- Happy Place by Emily Henry
- The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
- One Day in December by Josie Silver
- Part of Your World by Abby Jimenez
If You Liked the Movie, Watch:
- When Harry Met Sally (1989)
- About Time (2013)
- To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)
- Leap Year (2010)
- One Day (2023, Netflix)
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