Plot
Act One starts with Lil and Eva meeting on the coast of the cove. Lil is immediately attracted to Eva, but Eva, not recognizing her flirts, simply assumes she is being friendly. Lil, not realizing that Eva is straight, invites her to a party later that night. Upon Lil realizing that Eva is not a lesbian, she is mortified, and tries to gently uninvite her from the party. But Eva still doesn't take the hints.
Most of the characters are horrified that a straight women is not only attending the party, but living in the cove. Kitty especially is terrified of what her homosexuality will do to her career. Lil convinces them to pretend they are all straight, at least for the party. When Eva arrives, they stumble through awkward dialogue until Donna and Sue arrive. Not aware of the misunderstanding, they exclaim that they are lesbians, and that everyone at the cove is a lesbian. All the characters are embarrassed by the situation, with Eva abruptly leaving. Later that night, she returns to Lil and realizes her attraction. They begin their affair, with Lil concealing her cancer from her.
Act Two jumps to midsummer. The severity of Lil's cancer is revealed to the audience as well as Eva, after she collapses suddenly in agonizing pain. She refuses to undergo further chemotherapy, or have any other organs removed, accepting that this is her time. She is crushed that for the first time she feels true love (to Eva), and that her time is so close. Eva promises to spend the rest of Lil's time by her side.
The last scene in the play shows the remaining characters mourning Lil's death. Kitty decides to reopen her practice, Eva plays with the idea of renting Lil's cabin next summer. Of all the characters, Eva grows the most, becoming a strong, independent woman, rather than the scared dependent person she started the play as. The last lines of dialogue are meant to emphasis this:
Annie: You need a hand?
Eva: No thanks, Annie, I can make it by myself.
Read more about this topic: Last Summer At Bluefish Cove
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“Trade and the streets ensnare us,
Our bodies are weak and worn;
We plot and corrupt each other,
And we despoil the unborn.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“We have defined a story as a narrative of events arranged in their time-sequence. A plot is also a narrative of events, the emphasis falling on causality. “The king died and then the queen died” is a story. “The king died, and then the queen died of grief” is a plot. The time sequence is preserved, but the sense of causality overshadows it.”
—E.M. (Edward Morgan)
“If you need a certain vitality you can only supply it yourself, or there comes a point, anyway, when no one’s actions but your own seem dramatically convincing and justifiable in the plot that the number of your days concocts.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)