Looking for Alibrandi is the story of Josephine Alibrandi, a young Italian Australian teenager in her last year of high school. When the book opens, Josie, vice captain of St. Martha’s, an all-girls Catholic school, is already getting into trouble on the first day of school. She’s caught reading a teen magazine at her desk, and must retrieve it from the principal’s office.
After school, Josie is supposed to go to the house of Nonna Katia, her overbearing grandmother, but decides to go straight home. When her mom Christina comes home, Christina reveals that Josie’s absent father, who Josie has never met, has come to Sydney. His name is Michael Andretti, and he abandoned Christina when he found out she was pregnant at age 16. Chances are he doesn’t know Josie even exists, and Josie claims she’s fine keeping it that way.
At the annual “Have a Say Day,” a forum where students can voice their opinions, Josie catches the eye of Jacob Coote, the school captain of Cook High, a rival school. Josie remembers him as a boy who relentlessly pulled pranks on her when they were growing up, and so she ignores him at first. But then Jacob gives a passionate speech, and she develops a little crush on him.
One day in February Josie goes over to Nonna Katia’s house, and the two argue about Josie’s behavior and how Josie’s mother is raising Josie. Just as Josie is about to storm out and leave, in walks Michael Andretti. He and Josie have a stare-down, and Josie reveals that her mother, Christina, had her 17 years ago. This makes Michael realize who she really is to him, and he is shell-shocked. After dropping that bombshell, Josie leaves.
March rolls around, which signals the start of debate season. Josie has a crush on her friend John Barton who’s on a rival team. Wealthy, intelligent, and affluent, but kind and thoughtful as well, John is everything Josie aspires to be and date. After debating the two sneak off and share their hopes and fears for the future. Josie says she wants to be a barrister, and John says he has to be whatever his father wants him to be. John begins to get depressed, but Josie makes him laugh right as her rival Poison Ivy walks up. Ivy and John are childhood best friends, much to Josie’s chagrin.
At the regional dance, Josie looks for John, but he’s with Poison Ivy. Jacob Coote walks up to her and asks her dance. The pair dance for seven songs, before Josie goes to the bathroom and they change partners. After the dance, Jacob offers to drive Josie home and she accepts, but almost immediately regrets it when John finally comes and talks to her. He offers a ride too, but Josie has already agreed to go with Jacob. Jacob drives a motorbike, which petrifies Josie, but she has no choice. When he drops her home Jacob tries to kiss her but Josie moves her face away. Jacob says she’s not his type anyways, and leaves.
A few days after the dance, Josie sees Michael Andretti at a family bbq her grandmother hosts. Christina, Michael, and Josie all take turns staring at each other before Christina and Michael disappear into the house. Josie eavesdrops, and overhears Michael say he doesn’t want a daughter. Christina says that’s fine, but that he can’t change his mind later down the road. Nonna Katia has seen everything, and now knows that Michael is Josie’s father. Michael goes back into the house a second time, and this time it’s Josie who follows him. They argue briefly before agreeing to stay out of each other’s life.
For Easter, everyone goes to Nonna Katia’s house where she tells Josie stories of when she first immigrated to Australia from Italy. Josie’s grandmother describes the cultural shock she experienced, and the difficult life she had back then.
Back at school, Carly Bishop, one of Josie’s classmates, makes a racist comment. In reaction, Josie hits her on the face with her science book, breaking Carly’s nose. It looks like Josie will be expelled, but she calls Michael Andretti, who comes to her rescue despite them promising to stay out of each other’s life. As they walk through the halls of her school together, Josie finally knows what it feels like to walk beside one’s father.
One night while Josie and her friend Anna are at their job at McDonald's, a group of bullies waits for them outside in the parking lot. When the girls exit, the bullies begin to taunt and assault them. Jacob Coote and his friend Anton Valavic come to the girls’ rescue, and as he takes her home Jacob asks Josie on a date, which she agrees to. The next day Josie convinces her mother to let her go on a date with Jacob, on the condition that Jacob meet Christina. At Nonna Katia’s house, Josie finally asks to see her grandmother’s photo albums. Katia tells Josie stories from when she first came to Australia. One particular story involves Marcus Sandford, an attractive Australian man who befriends Katia at the post office. In Nonno Francesco’s absence Marcus helped Katia around the house.
The day of their date Jacob shows up to Josie’s house looking disheveled and ragged, which scares Christina and upsets Josie. On their way to the movies Josie yells at Jacob for not putting in any effort, and once they reach the movies he yells at her that “ethnic” people like her should go back to their own country. He immediately apologizes, but the damage is done. Josie runs off crying, and begins to walk back to her house alone. Michael Andretti happens to be driving by and asks Josie if she wants to go for pizza. She agrees, and at the pizza place they agree to work on their relationship. He also gives her a job at his law firm, so she can quit McDonald's.
One day Josie runs into John Barton, who’s depressed and overwhelmed by his family’s expectations. The two write down their current feelings on pieces of paper and exchange them for later reading. A few days later Josie and her friends are at a cafe when Jacob and his rowdy friends come in. They begin to tease the girls, so Josie and her friends leave. As Josie waits at the bus stop for her bus home, Jacob comes and sits next to her. He apologizes for his behavior, and asks for a second chance. Josie agrees, and they kiss a few times before she gets on the bus home. On Friday, they skip school and go on their second date, which is much better than the first. They talk about their families, and Josie feels very connected to Jacob.
For June holidays Josie goes to Adelaide with Michael Andretti, where she meets her paternal grandparents, her aunt, and her cousins. Though her aunt and cousins give her a warm welcome, her grandparents are a bit more standoffish. By the end of the trip they warm up a tad, but Josie is still ready to go home to her mother. She does get extremely close to Michael, and finds that she likes having a dad.
Jacob gets a car, much to Josie’s delight, because his motorbike still scares her. The couple talks about their hopes and dreams, and Jacob shares that he wants to own a mechanic shop. Josie suggests they could go into business together, and Jacob starts to say they could be a husband and wife team before getting embarrassed and becoming silent. Still, his words make Josie happy, and she begins to think about being with Jacob forever.
A few “holidays” come up, including tomato day and St. Martha’s day. At tomato day, Josie’s family gathers together and makes spaghetti sauce from scratch, a tradition they brought with them from Sicily. As they prepare the sauce, Nonna Katia and Patrizia share more stories with Josie about their first years in Australia. Marcus Sandford comes up a lot, and Patrizia says that after the death of her son they never saw him again. Josie believes Nonna Katia did see him again, but doesn’t ask her. At St. Martha’s day, Josie is responsible for organizing and watching students as they complete their annual walkathon, but instead joins her friends when they ditch the event. The girls end up on national television, which gets them caught by the school, and Sister Louise calls them into her office. She is particularly harsh on Josie, who as school vice captain should have known better and done the right thing. She calls Josie a sheep, and reveals that Josie’s classmates actually voted her school captain, not Poison Ivy. This stuns Josie, who realizes she’s not as big of an outsider as she originally thought.
The following Monday night John and Josie go to see Macbeth at the movie theater, where they run into Jacob and his friends. Jacob is angry to see Josie out with John, and they argue before going to the movie separately. John doesn’t understand what Josie sees in Jacob, but tells her everything will be okay. After the movie, Jacob is at first still mad with Josie, but eventually forgives her and drives her home.
Josie is at Nonna Katia’s house again, listening to more stories about her immigration to Australia and Marcus Sandford. Katia reveals that Marcus was in love with her, and that for four months during the holiday season when she was separated from her whole family, he would come and help her around the house. When the time came for her to join her family in Sydney, Marcus begged her to stay, but she of course refused. As she listens to the stories, Josie realizes how much she has changed, because a year ago she wouldn’t be interested in listening to her grandmother.
The next afternoon Jacob picks up Josie from work to take her home, but when they arrive Josie sees Nonna Katia’s car in the driveway. She refuses to introduce Jacob to her grandmother, which infuriates him and makes him feel like he’s not good enough. He storms off, angry. The next day Josie visits him at his house in Redfern, and meets his father, who likes her. Jacob tries to seduce Josie into having sex with him, but she refuses. He finally understands, and agrees to wait until she’s ready.
On Christina’s birthday the family has a party at Nonna Katia’s house. As Robert teases Christina about when she was conceived, Josie realizes it would have been impossible for Nonno Francesco to father Christina because he was absent around the conception window. Josie waits until everyone leaves before confronting her grandmother, who all but admits that Marcus Sandford is the true father of Christina. This devastates Josie, who thinks all their lives are now a lie. It takes a week for Josie to forgive her grandmother, but she does eventually go and make up with Nonna Katia. Katia tells Josie everything, confessing that Marcus loved her in a way that Nonno Francesco did not. She and Josie gain a new closeness, and agree not to tell Christina.
It’s the Sunday before HSC exams, and Josie is at Robert’s rugby match when John Barton comes over to her. He is in high spirits, and they have a great day together cheering on her cousin. They also talk about the future, and John tells Josie she has to make decisions about her own future and follow through. It has taken him some time, but he’s finally able to follow his own path, separate from what his father wants for him. Josie is lifted by this optimistic and happy John. When they hug goodbye she feels happy and secure in her future, because she has people like John, Jacob, her friends, and her family to support her. Tragically the next day at school as she walks to her first exam, Poison Ivy tells her that John committed suicide the night before. Josie is devastated, because she saw him looking so happy and content at the rugby game hours before. She calls her father, who comes and takes her home. At home her parents try to console her, but she’s devastated. She falls into a restless sleep, until she jumps awake because she remembered the notes she and John exchanged. His note was a poem he wrote about his depression, and Josie wonders if he's still alone wherever he is.
At Speech Night Josie runs into Ivy, who she no longer views as Poison Ivy. The two girls bond over their shared grief about John, and agree to hang out sometimes when they’re in university. Later in the night Michael takes Josie for pizza and they talk about her mother’s dreams. Michael also reveals he’s staying in Sydney to be closer to her, and asks her if she’ll allow him to adopt her. The news of his move thrills Josie, but she asks for time to think about the adoption. Still, she calls him Dad for the first time, and says that she loves him. When Josie tells Christina the news about Michael, she is bittersweetly happy, as she’s always had Josie to herself, but now she has to share her. Still, she’s happy Josie will have her father in her life.
A few days after Speech Night Jacob comes to Josie’s house and breaks up with her. He says that while they have a great future chance of being happy together, right now they both need to focus on themselves. This devastates Josie, who blames it on their different cultural backgrounds. Jacob denies this, and says he loves Josie because she’s different, but that she has taught him to strive for more and improve himself. He leaves her, clearly still in love with her, but confident in his decision. Josie tells her friends at the cafe a few days later, and they all have their own opinions. Lee thinks Josie did the right thing by refusing to have sex with Jacob, and says she wishes they were little girls again.
The novel ends with Josie reflecting back on her year of growth and development. She realizes that her emancipation was a gradual process that occurred over a series of events. She now knows it doesn’t matter what her last name is, but rather who she is to the people in her life. She remains hopeful for a reconciliation with Jacob, and thrilled over her newfound relationship with her father. Her emancipation finally happened because “one day” finally came, and she now understands life.
