What Is Every Year After’s Big Twist? Percy’s Love Triangle Drama With Siblings Sam, Charlie Explained

Prime Video’s Every Year After hinges on a shocking twist — but is the big secret actually related to another love triangle with two brothers?

Based on Every Summer After by Carley Fortune, Every Year After follows Percy (Sadie Soverall), who grew up vacationing in Barry’s Bay and spending all her time with the Florek brothers: Sam (Matt Cornett) and Charlie (Michael Bradway).

Warning: Spoilers below for season 1 of Every Year After.

Years after a heartbreaking split from Sam, the pair reunite, but something is holding Percy back from reconciling their relationship: she had sex with Charlie during a rough patch with Sam. In Fortune’s book, Sam reveals that he already found out about the shocking hookup.

On screen, however, Sam is oblivious to Percy and Charlie’s one-night stand — which this time occurs after an official breakup while Sam is at college —and how it contributes to her cutting things off with him in the past.

Despite Percy having individual connections with both Florek brothers, Fortune addressed the people who compared Every Year After‘s surprise reveal to Prime Video’s other successful book to screen adaptation series The Summer I Turned Pretty, which followed Belly’s (Lola Tung) complicated love triangle with brothers Jeremiah (Gavin Casalegno) and Conrad (Chris Briney).

“It’s not about a person choosing between other people,” Fortune, 42, explained exclusively to Us Weekly of her story. “That’s what a love triangle is, when there is equal kind of tension in the triangle. It’s just not what it is. I think the show is very much about important places and those people and places that stay with us for many, many years. It’s about coming home.”

She continued, “It’s about how we grow and we evolve, but the younger versions of ourselves are always with us. I think it’s very tender.”

Aurora Perrineau, who plays Chantal in the series, also shared her take.

“I think it has the same yearning as The Summer I Turn Pretty, but I think it’s really not a love triangle,” she told Us. “I don’t think it’s a love triangle. I think, also, it’s just a bit more adult, because it’s about adults.”

Perrineau, 31, called Every Year After more of a “conversation of forgiveness” between Percy and Sam.

“I think it’s something that a lot of people — maybe not in the exact scenario have dealt with — but it is that thing of trying to understand how to forgive people and if you can,” she shared. “I think that that’s something that people will attach to.”

Every Year After is streaming now on Prime Video.