Miles has spent almost her entire life in the shadow of her first cousin Laura. Laura is completely overprivileged--smart, gorgeous, and a student at a prep school outside of D.C. Miles is overweight, anti-social, and lives with her mom in the carriage house on her uncle's property. As far as Miles is concerned, Laura has the perfect life--until she commits suicide, leaving her dad Jim and Miles lost in the wake of the event. Miles already feels like she has no future--she was planning to drop out of school--and now she has no one. Her best friend, Jamal, is dating Bex, one of Laura's annoying friends, and Miles's mother jets off to London for the summer, leaving her with her virtual-stranger dad, Buddy. When Miles finds out that her mother isn't planning to return and Jamal tells Miles that he and Bex are planning to move to NYC, Miles hits rock bottom and overdoses on drugs. She almost dies--just like Laura did. But with the help of Jim, Buddy, Jamal, and even Bex, Miles gains the strength to face her situation and accept help. This is a forceful, emotional story about finding love and cobbling together a family.