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In 2018, Lara Jean Covey (Lana Condor) fell for the brown curls and charming grin of Peter Kavinsky (Noah Centineo) in To All the Boys I Loved Before. 

Her sister, Kitty, had sent out all her hidden love letters that she wrote for each crush she ever crushed. There was no denying the chemistry between Covey and Kavinsky when the latter asked her to be his fake girlfriend to get back his ex, Gen (Emilija Baranac).

But Kavinsky fell for Lara Jean and the first movie ends with the two kissing in the lacrosse field.

The sequel, To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You takes fans right to the new couple’s first date, with Lara Jean expressing a growing insecurity if she’s doing the whole “girlfriend thing” right. The night ends with both Lara Jean and Kavinsky sending a lantern into the sky, with a promise the two will never break each other’s heart. 

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Foreshadowing, maybe? 

The very next day Lara Jean receives a letter back from one of the five crushes: the one and only John Ambrose (Jordan Fisher), her middle school friend that read Harry Potter with her in the treehouse and showed up at a halloween party wearing a full-out costume just like she had. They were “lame in a totally cool way.”

As fate would have it, John Ambrose and Lara Jean coincidentally signed up for the same community service project: volunteering at a senior citizens home. The two grow closer as Kavinsky and Lara Jean struggle to find a common ground for their relationship. Lara Jean feels he can’t stop thinking about Gen and every first she has with Kavinsky is just a follow-up of what he experienced with Gen. 

The tension between Kavinsky and Lara Jean is only heightened when Lara Jean is shown a picture of Gen and her boyfriend embracing. When Lara Jean confronts Kavinsky, he lets her know it’s because Gen is going through a tough time. Their talk reveals that Kavinsky was in fact aware it was Gen that sent out the video and was waiting for Gen at the hot tub that night. 

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Baffled, Lara Jean hints at breaking up and the two do just that. 

The turning point from the outset could be this breakup, but a closer look reveals the moment Lara Jean texts Gen to meet at her at the treehouse in the neighborhood everyone hung out at in middle school. The two find that their friendship from oh so long ago has lingering strings. Gen tells Lara Jean that Kavinsky went through his parents divorcing before and that’s why she reached out— it’s what she’s going through too. 

Gen tells Lara Jean Kavinsky is crazy about her and she doesn’t need to worry. Lara Jean realizes she has projected her insecurities on Kavinsky through their whole relationship, rather than believing and trusting his feelings for her. 

The next day, Ambrose tries to sweep Lara Jean away at the ball they both throw for the seniors living at the home. They dance, they make snow-angels and then kiss… but Lara Jean wasn’t kissing the guy she wanted. 

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Lo and behold, as she runs to find Kavinsky, he was right at the doorstep of the home. The two realize their love is real— that the promise they wrote on the lantern meant more than just loving each other when it was easy, but taking the risks with love too: getting hurt. 

And more than that, Lara Jean learned to love herself. To trust herself. To stop comparing herself to others— and that makes this movie more than a romance story: it makes it a love story for Lara Jean, from herself to herself.