It's 1983 in Sunshine, Melbourne, and funny, quick-thinking Marly is just trying to fit in. But being a 10-year-old boat refugee from Saigon doesn't make things easy. Especially when your cousins come to stay permanently! Marly tries to teach them Australian ways, but as her school friends start making fun of her too, she is torn between her loyalties to her cousins and sticking up for what she knows is right, and wanting to fit in. To make matters worse, Marly discovers she has accidentally named herself after one of Michael Jackson's brothers.