Only when suspended from school does Fiona Harbison, 14, learn that her parent didn't abandon her at age four as relatives told her, they died. The school problem begins Fiona's education about her parents and how they dealt with authority figure. It also pits her against the school principal with a personal agenda to dominate everyone, including her bosses. Her great-uncle Ken and her mom's best friend step forward to defend Fiona and her interests from injustice and school officials eager to avoid conflicts at the student's expense. The two also fill her in on how much she is like her parents and how proud those two would be of how she is dealing with a very strange and trying life. Those two tell Fiona about the weekend when her mother, Gladys, met her father, Cutter, after being effectively kidnapped into indentured slavery by Ken's wife who saw the girl as a solution to her own need for help in cleaning the house and running two large parties while he was in a state of depression and didn't realize the true nature of the girl's participation. First a Saturday night teen party for Ken's teen daughter and dozens of young guests. Then a Sunday morning brunch intended by his wife to impress business movers and shakers as her way to help the family-owned company. Many things in her strange home life are altered in Fiona's favor as the school matter is dealt with. As she learns the details of her family history that have been kept from her until now, she must decide how to proceed with people now finally looking out for her and helping her make the most of her potential and opportunities.