In 1959 when her mother dies, twelve-year-old Ayumi leaves her home in Japan to find her American father. Biracial, she is confronted with a resentful half-sister and a racist stepmother. She wants to be accepted by her new family, but how much of her true self must she give up? Ayumi's only solace is her music. When she is deprived of her violin, she shocks even herself by doing the unthinkable.