Minisha Wolff, the main character, opens up the story by questioning her race. She is the product of two white, divorced parents who live nowhere near each other. Her father lives in the ghettoized area of Washington and the majority of his friends are people of color, mostly African American. Minisha does not feel like she fits in with these people, and through the duration of the book struggles with her ethnicity and culture and how it relates to the way she interacts with children her own age. Her sister, Anora, does not struggle from the same problem and instead readily makes friends with the black children in the neighborhood. This leaves Minisha to question who she is and where she fits in.
This problem compounded as she grew older, and realized that the black children did hate her for her race and whiteness, insulting her for the color of her skin. She eventually learned that her way to fit in with these children, instead of being kind, was to insult them back. This helped her create a sense of community and find out who she was. This contrasts deeply with her sister, who joins this community and becomes a rebel. However, this seems to win her father’s affection, something Minisha deeply craves. Through every rebellious act Anora commits, Minisha grows increasingly jealous. This jealousy additionally manifests itself when her father begins dating women, in an attempt to get over her mother. One such woman, Dominique, seemed like an ideal match. However, she soon showed that she was not who she made herself out to be. She was controlling and angry, and hated Minisha and Anora. She told Minisha in no uncertain terms that she was not a fan of her.
Soon after, her mother realizes that Minisha needs a more rigorous schooling. She changes her district and enrolls her in a program called the individual progression program. Minisha finally begins to have difficulty with school. This is compounded with the fact that she is bullied, once again. The rich white kids at her school bully her for not being affluent, and for assimilating to black culture in the way that she did when she was younger. Minisha begins to feel like an outsider, once again. With her difficulty learning in school as well as her being bullied, she begins to experience emotional distress, which her parents take note of.
Her father eventually marries a woman named Yvonne, who torments Minisha unendingly. This rift between Minisha and her family leads her to seek comfort in her white friends. While in their homes, she begins to question why they are unhappy, and if they have any right to be with a home and a solid source of food. After learning more about her white friends, she discovers notes of emotional abuse and a lack of support from their families, something that has caused them a lot of distress. This experience is enlightening for Minisha and she learns that there is more to life than just basic needs. However, this creates a cognitive dissonance between Minisha and her perception of the world, only thinking that rich and poor exists, and nothing in between. Minisha begins to fear that if she is not incredibly rich, she will be very poor.
Minisha and her dad finally try to maintain a relationship after years of neglect. He signs her up for sports, thinking that she needs an outlet. Minisha quickly falls in love with swimming, making the school swim team. Her final goal is to swim across a lake to an island, but her father wants to swim with her in order to bond with her. Minisha is worried and thinks that her father won’t be able to make it across the lake and tries to convince him to not swim with her, but as a final gesture of goodwill she stops swimming, pretending she needs help, so as to make sure that her father wouldn’t get hurt. After this, she finally realizes that her father is proud of her, and Minisha is happy.
