After Edward Cullen leaves Forks, breaking Bella's heart in the process, Bella discovers that if she gets herself into a dangerous situation, she will hear Edward's voice in her head. She decides that riding a motorcycle (and later, cliff diving) will be a great way to ensure that she can hear his voice often. She therefore rekindles her friendship with Jacob Black, and the pair starts working on fixing up two old bikes. She soon discovers that while she still misses Edward desperately, she can experience moments of something close to happiness when spending time with Jacob.

Bella also discovers that Edward and his family are not the only ones with supernatural powers. After not being able to see Jacob for some time because he has been "sick," she discovers that he is in fact a werewolf. The werewolves' most important job is to protect people from vampires, a job which they do admirably earlier in the story when they chase Laurent away from Bella in the meadow, where she has gone in the hopes of hearing Edward's voice again. During the meadow visit, Bella also discovers that Victoria plans to kill her.

A further discovery that Bella makes is that Alice's visions of the future are not infallible. Having seen the cliff-diving disaster in her mind's eye, Alice is convinced that Bella has decided to commit suicide. This sets in motion a chain of events that brings Bella and Edward face-to-face with the infamous Volturi in Italy.