Ruby maintains that her story will not be one of those hideous ones where the young protagonist loses her mother, is forced to move in with her estranged father, and has everything in her life seemingly fall apart. However, as Ruby moves from Boston to live with her movie star father in Hollywood, the potential for this becoming one of those hideous stories appears significant. In Hollywood Ruby attends a progressive school filled to the brim with rich kids who have famous parents. This certainly does not jive with Ruby’s subdued style. To make matters worse, Ruby is thousands of miles away from her boyfriend and her best friend.
This narrative, told through the poetry of Ruby, is all about struggling to fit and struggling to accept a father who, despite seeming perfect, was absent throughout the life of his child. Ultimately, Ruby learns that her father is not all what her mother had made him seem and the high school student slowly embraces her changing life.