Connie knows her mom has problems and having such a peculiar mother is stifling in her small coastal Alabama town. The local gossips say that her mom’s mental illness was the reason her dad divorced her. He moved away when Connie was only seven years old, but Connie doesn’t need help from him or anybody else. She knows how to hold everything together, even when her mom gets sick and stops functioning for months at a time or longer.
Desperately afraid that she will inherit her mom’s disease, Connie clings to her best friend Tara, and does what she can to maintain the façade of a normal childhood. And she keeps things on an even keel until late one summer, when Connie’s world begins to change. Connie and Tara enter eighth grade. A handsome boy named Mason moves to town. The three teens quickly become friends and are nearly inseparable. But as the seasons change, rumors begin to swirl as unsolved mysteries, including robberies and a murder, invade their quiet little town.
Connie reels as her tenuous life unravels. Staggering from the pain of being separated from her two best friends, Connie is once again confronted with the reality of her mom’s illness, a burden Connie finally must admit is overwhelming. Does she risk further exposing herself and her mom to gossip by asking for help? Or can she find another way to escape? Ultimately, it’s up to Connie to decide.
