When Esther was seven, she lost her parents in a car accident. Not having any other relatives, she went to live with Dolores, her seventy-eight-year-old grandmother. Before they were united, Esther had only met Dolores a couple of times. She was afraid, shy, distant, and would not talk to her. As weeks, months, and years went by, the tragic loss faded away in their memories. Esther was happy again and had told Dolores how much she meant for her. Unfortunately, it was not long before Dolores found out she had an advance cancer. In fact, her doctor said she only had months to live. How could she communicate this news to her now twelve-year-old granddaughter who saw her as her only hope? Dolores shared the news with the Parkers, her longtime neighbors, who took the responsibility to organize her funeral and find Esther a decent place to live. It was another shock when death unexpectedly knocked at the Parkers' door. Now she was on her own, and since there was no other way, she broke the news to Esther. The parentless child was sent to an orphanage, where later she was adopted by a black family called the Jacksons. They lived in Lamberg, a community in Maples inhabited by the country's wealthiest people. Esther registered to Lamberg High School. It was in this school she suffered another evil of life and later found out about the controversy that surrounded her new family.