Life isn't easy for thirteen-year-old Edie Snow. She's the youngest kid in her new high school, she has a serious shortage of cool clothes, and her own family doesn't even understand her. Add to that a sister who's acting crazy, a boy friend who wants to be a boyfriend, and a mortifying nickname, and it's about as much as one girl can bear. To make matters worse, her mom is making her to walk her cousin Merry, who has Down syndrome, home from school every day. Edie figures she can make new friends and get out of walking Merry by joining the school play--but putting on an ambitious musical production of Shakespeare's King Lear only ends up alienating her further from her schoolmates. With the musical on the brink of disaster, Edie realizes that if she doesn't find some help--fast--it'll be curtains for her play ... and her social life.