Can best friends Aviva and Maddy survive the hardest year of their lives without each other? Twelve-year-olds Maddy Li-Quinn and Aviva Adelman are the best of friends, innately connected through their love of the arts: Aviva loves to read poetry and Maddy is a gifted violinist. However, over the course of a painful year, very different family struggles drive the two girls apart. Maddy encounters violence in the home, and Aviva's baby brother faces a difficult diagnosis. To cope with the stress, Aviva's mother suggests she write a book about her friendship with Maddy. In an attempt to heal through the written word, Aviva becomes the funny, feisty protagonist of her own book, reflecting back on her life, and realizing that she, too, has made many mistakes along the way.