During the summer, the youngest sister, Cecilia, slits her wrist in a bathtub, though she survives. After her parents allow her sisters to throw a chaperoned basement party intended to make Cecilia feel better, she excuses herself and successfully ends her life by leaping from her second story bedroom onto a spiked iron fencepost. In the wake of Cecilia's suicide, the Lisbon parents watch over their four remaining daughters even more closely. This further isolates the family from their community and heightens the air of mystery surrounding the girls, particularly to the neighborhood boys.