Thanks to "the incident" (don't ask) in her home town of Miami, seventeen-year-old Haitian American Alaine Beauparlant finds herself spending the next two months doing what her school is calling a "spring volunteer immersion project". It's definitely no vacation. She's toiling away under the ever-watchful eyes of Tati Estelle at her new nonprofit in Haiti. And Alaine's lean-in queen of a mother is even there to make sure she does things right. Or she might just be laying low to dodge the media sharks after a much more public incident of her ownand to hide a rather devastating secret. All things considered, there are some pretty nice perks. Like flirting with Tati's distractingly cute intern, getting actual face time with her mom, and experiencing Haiti for the first time. Alaine's even exploring her family's historywhich happens to be loaded with betrayals, superstitions, and possibly even a family curse.