Belly has always been Conrad’s girl. Here’s the complete answer — with full spoilers for both the books and the show.
There is no question in modern young adult romance that has sparked more passionate debate than this one: who does Belly end up with? For years, fans of Jenny Han’s beloved trilogy — and Amazon Prime Video’s hit adaptation, The Summer I Turned Pretty — have split firmly into Team Conrad and Team Jeremiah. The love triangle at the heart of the story is messy, emotionally charged, and surprisingly hard to look away from. Whether you’ve read all three books or just finished binge-watching season 3, this guide breaks down exactly how Belly’s story ends, why it ends that way, and what the differences are between the page and the screen.
Who Is Belly in The Summer I Turned Pretty?
Isabel “Belly” Conklin is the central character of Jenny Han’s The Summer I Turned Pretty trilogy and its Prime Video adaptation, portrayed by Lola Tung. Her legal name is Isabel Conklin, though everyone has always called her Belly. Every summer, she and her family spend time at Cousins Beach, where she grows up alongside the Fisher brothers — Conrad and Jeremiah — the sons of her mother’s best friend, Susannah.
Belly falls for her childhood crush Conrad, all while his younger brother Jeremiah develops feelings for her from afar. After Belly and Conrad break up, she begins a romance with Jeremiah. The story tracks her coming-of-age journey through heartbreak, identity, grief, and ultimately, love — sprawling across three seasons of television and three novels that have each driven their own dedicated fanbases to the brink of obsession.
Who Does Belly End Up With in the Books?
The Setup in We’ll Always Have Summer
Jenny Han’s third and final book, We’ll Always Have Summer, picks up with Belly in a relationship with Jeremiah at college. Things seem settled — until they aren’t. Belly finds out that Jeremiah had slept with another girl while away for spring break. Jeremiah insists it happened while they were on a break, but Belly doesn’t see it that way. Despite the betrayal, the two eventually reconcile and get engaged — a decision that sets the entire final act into motion.
Their impending wedding pulls everyone back together at Cousins Beach, including Conrad. Living there for the summer before school resumes, Conrad is forced into close proximity with Belly while she plans her wedding to his brother. As Jeremiah proves unreliable with wedding preparation, Conrad quietly steps in to help. The connection between them rekindles in ways that neither can easily ignore.
Conrad Confesses Everything
During Jeremiah’s bachelor party, his frat brothers tell Conrad about Jeremiah’s infidelity. Sober and deeply distressed, Conrad approaches Belly — only to find out she already knew and is planning to marry Jeremiah anyway. It’s then that Conrad finally opens up and tells Belly he’s still in love with her.
The confession doesn’t immediately change things. Conrad attempts to walk it back the next morning, claiming he doesn’t remember what he said — a move that infuriates Belly because it echoes all of his old push-pull behavior. Frustrated, Conrad finally admits he does remember and meant every word, explaining he was trying to make it easier for them to be around each other — and that he never got over Belly and has loved her the whole time.
The Wedding That Never Happens — and the Ending That Does
The weekend of Belly and Jeremiah’s wedding, Conrad learns about Jeremiah’s infidelity and confesses his love to Belly. Before walking down the aisle, Jeremiah confronts Belly about her feelings for Conrad and tells her: “That’ll always be Con. I won’t be your excuse. You’ve got to see for yourself, or you’ll never be able to let him go.” When Belly can’t deny her feelings for Conrad any longer, they call off the wedding.
The book ends with a flash-forward: Belly is 23 and engaged to Conrad. Jeremiah, who had said he’d never see his brother again, is a guest at their wedding. It’s a concise but deeply satisfying conclusion — one that confirms what many readers suspected from the very first page of the first book.
Who Does Belly End Up With in the TV Show?
Season 3 and the Paris Arc
The show follows a broadly similar path but expands significantly on the aftermath of the cancelled wedding. After calling off the engagement, Belly runs away to Paris, where she builds a life of her own, going by “Isabel,” finding an apartment, making friends, and working two jobs to support herself. It’s a crucial detour that the book skips past, and one that Han has said felt essential for showing Belly’s growth as a person.
Conrad started writing Belly letters during this period, which she kept but did not respond to — until the end of Episode 10. In Paris, she also briefly gets involved with a man named Benito — though by the time Conrad arrives to see her, she had already broken up with him six weeks earlier.
The Finale: “At Last”
The 80-minute series finale, released September 17, 2025 on Amazon Prime Video, opens with Conrad surprising Belly on the day before her 22nd birthday. She’s apprehensive at first but agrees to show him around the city before he heads to a medical conference in Brussels.
He asks to see “her” Paris, and she takes him to a rooftop that’s special to her, where they finally begin opening up about the past year. She invites him to a small birthday dinner, and slowly they begin to reconnect. Later, they walk the streets of Paris alone, reminisce about old times, and spontaneously slow dance by the Seine to The Flamingos’ “I Only Have Eyes for You” — until Belly decides to kiss Conrad.
The morning after, things get complicated. Belly says she wishes she could be as sure as Conrad is about his feelings, but she isn’t. Conrad heads toward the train station, leaving her with “Happy Birthday, Belly.” It seems like they might let it end there.
Belly’s Final Choice
Heartbroken, Conrad begins to leave for Brussels — but just in time, Belly comes to terms with her true feelings. Memories rush back, and she finally realizes that no matter how hard she tries to change, her love will remain the same.
Belly catches the 5 a.m. train to Brussels. Wearing the infinity necklace Conrad once gave her for her birthday, she declares: “I choose you of my own free will. If there are infinite worlds, every one of me chooses you in every one of them.”
The final scene of the episode sees Belly returning to the house at Cousins Beach a few years later, coupled up with Conrad. Jeremiah, meanwhile, strikes up an unexpected romance with his former co-worker Denise. As the credits roll, fans are treated to photos of Belly and Conrad spending Christmas in Paris together after their reunion.
Book Ending vs. Show Ending: Key Differences
The core answer is the same in both versions — Belly ends up with Conrad — but how they get there differs in meaningful ways.
Han’s book notably ends with Jeremiah and Belly calling off their wedding, followed by a short epilogue set several years in the future. In the books, after the wedding is called off, Belly goes abroad to Spain rather than France, and she and Conrad reconnect through letters. They don’t reunite in Europe but rather at her college graduation, after which they fall back in love and eventually get married at Cousins Beach.
The show relocates the post-wedding journey to Paris, adds the Benito subplot as a fuller storyline, and stages the final reunion on a train to Brussels instead of at a college graduation. These changes give Belly significantly more screen time to develop as a standalone person — not just as someone caught between two brothers — before she makes her final decision.
What Happens to Jeremiah?
One of the most satisfying parts of the finale is that Jeremiah isn’t left entirely behind. There are sparks between Jeremiah and Denise throughout the episode, and Jeremiah eventually kisses her in the last episode, suggesting he may have finally found someone who is truly right for him. It’s a welcome touch of grace for a character who spent much of the series in his brother’s shadow — and it makes the ending feel genuinely complete rather than one-sided.
Is There More Story Coming?
The story of The Summer I Turned Pretty will continue with a feature film, as announced on the show’s official Instagram shortly after the finale dropped. In a handwritten note at the end of the finale episode, Han thanked fans for their love and support and teased that they might all meet again at Cousins someday.
FAQ
Q: Who does Belly end up with at the end of The Summer I Turned Pretty?
A: Belly ends up with Conrad Fisher in both the books and the TV show. In the show’s finale, she chases him onto a train to Brussels and tells him she chooses him “of her own free will.” The final scene shows them back at Cousins Beach together.
Q: Does Belly marry Jeremiah in the books?
A: No. Belly and Jeremiah get engaged and plan a wedding, but they call it off before walking down the aisle. Jeremiah himself encourages Belly to go to Conrad, recognizing that she has never fully let go of her first love.
Q: Does the TV show follow the book ending?
A: The outcome is the same — Belly chooses Conrad — but the path differs. The show adds a Paris arc with Belly living independently abroad, while in the book she goes to Spain and reunites with Conrad at her college graduation back in the US.
Q: Why does Jeremiah tell Belly to choose Conrad?
A: Before the wedding, Jeremiah tells Belly that Conrad will always have been her first choice, and that he refuses to be her excuse. He insists she needs to face her true feelings or she’ll never truly let Conrad go.
Q: Will there be more The Summer I Turned Pretty content after the show?
A: Yes. A feature film has been confirmed to continue the story. Jenny Han’s note at the end of the finale also teased a possible return to Cousins Beach in the future.
Final Thoughts
The Summer I Turned Pretty was always, at its heart, a love story about first loves and the complicated way they shape us. Belly’s journey from lovestruck teenager to a young woman who chooses love with clear eyes and full confidence is what makes the ending so earned. Whether you came to the story through Jenny Han’s books or through Prime Video’s lush, Taylor Swift-soundtracked adaptation, the answer to the central question remains beautifully consistent: Belly ends up with Conrad. It just took her — and him — a very long time to get out of their own way. If the upcoming film picks up where the finale left off, there’s every reason to believe Cousins Beach has a few more summers of storytelling left in it.
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