After being expelled from a fancy boarding school, Cyd Charisse's problems with her mother escalate after Cyd falls in love with a sensitive surfer and is subsequently sent from San Francisco to New York City to spend time with her biological father.

Back in San Francisco for her senior year in high school, seventeen-year-old Cyd attempts to reconcile with her boyfriend, Shrimp, making some girlfriends and beginning to feel more a part of her family in the process.

In the wake of her cousin's suicide, overweight and introverted seventeen-year-old Miles experiences significant changes in her relationships with her mother and father, her best friend Jamal and his family, and her cousin's father, while gaining insights about herself, both positive and negative.