Amazon's first Canadian original series (June 17) is full of family drama, small-town charm, and lots of laughs. After infidelity causes the end of a long-term relationship, Justin (Jordan Gavaris) heads back home to Canada to reconnect with his life there, including his birth daughter Billie (Madison Shamoun). While he hasn't spent much time with Billie since she was adopted, they have always known about one another, and their summer at the lake is a chance to connect. "Whether he realizes it or not, he is also reconnecting with some fundamental part of himself from when he was younger, as we do when our adult life blows up," Gavaris tells EW.

Bonding with bold and self-assured teen Billie won't be easy for Justin, who is a bit of a hot mess. "This relationship [is] between a parent and child where it's reversed, where Billie is the parent and Justin is the child," Gavaris explains. Viewers will watch them both find their groove with one another as she chastises him for his antics, and he simply wants her to let loose a little.

One compilation to their summer of bonding is Justin's unexpected reunion with his stepsister Maisy-May (Julia Stiles). Justin's father leaves the family cottage to Maisy-May when he dies, and when Justin finds out, a Succession-like battle begins. "Cottage country is full of blood feuds and people fighting over cottages," Gavaris says about the basis for their sparring. It took some time for the actors to go for it while improvising. Initially, they were timid about the insults, but Stiles encouraged him to go for it, and the result is an array of very different ways of being horrible to one another.

The Lake fills out its world with an eccentric group of relatives, neighbors, and love interests. Natalie Lisinska and Jon Dore play "quintessential cottage couple" Jayne and Wayne; Maisy-May's ripped yet lovely husband is played by Terry Chen; and Travis Nelson plays Justin's love interest, Riley, who Gavaris says will be everyone's favorite. "Some of my favorite performers are playing these outstanding characters," he says. "There are some special Easter eggs in these characters that represent Canadians who've maybe summered in Muskoka or northern Ontario."

Among the comedy's memorable characters is Maisy-May's gender-fluid child Opal (Declan Whaley). Like a very excited Justin (whom Opal quickly makes feel like "some tired old gay"), Gavaris loves having the dynamic young queer character on The Lake. "I am excited at the idea of putting someone like Opal in the same frame as someone like Justin. It's an opportunity for the audience to learn without feeling like they're being fed," he says.