Margaret, a thirteen-year-old girl who has always felt out of place among her family, moves into her biological mothers childhood home in the summer of 1952 in Alexandria, Virginia. Shortly after moving in, she discovers a diary under a floorboard in her bedroom, and after reading it, she learns that it belonged to her birth mother, and against her parents wishes, she goes looking for her. Margarets search leads her to her angry grandmother who has forgotten about her daughter and speaks ill of her, so Margaret decides to put off her search until after she graduates high school. Over the next few years, life for the Sorenson family is a normal one, and just when the Sorensons think Margaret has forgotten about her birth mother, she takes off once again right after graduation with her boyfriend Tom to New York, a city much bigger than where she came fromnot knowing what to expect or if she will find her mother, Margaret pushes forward, not letting anyone or anything get in the way of her finding her mother and getting the answers to the questions she has had since she was a child.