Award winning author Jamie Lisa Forbes brings us the story of Rowen Hart, the pampered only son of a prominent family in the small community of White Rock, North Carolina. It's the 1950's and Rowen is following the life path his parents have planned for him when his world is upturned by his father's suicide. Now he finds himself as the sole support for his mother and dependent on his pitiless uncle, who had been his father's business partner.
Ill prepared to take over as head of the family, Rowen doesn't know which way to turn and his life become even more muddled by the ten year old girl who comes to live with him and his family, baffling him with her wild behavior and never-ending attempts to win his approval. Though she makes his responsibilities even more overwhelming, her blunt honesty sticks with him, casting doubt on the assumptions he's held.
As Rowen tries to find his way forward in a world he hadn't expected, he begins to question everything about his upbringing, his circumstances and his plans for the future as they turn to dust in his hands.