When her social-climbing father is relocated from a one-horse town to his native Rome, 12-year-old Caterina enrolls in his old school, finding herself adrift in an environment where eighth-graders form friendships based on social class and their parents' political affiliations.

When her social-climbing father is relocated from a one-horse town to his native Rome, 12-year-old Caterina enrolls in his old school, finding herself adrift in an environment where eighth-graders form friendships based on social class and their parents' political affiliations.