Kiara Jones-Birkell knows a lot about the Birkell side of her family, and nothing about the Joneses. The one time she tried to ask about her mother's relatives, her mom turned a spooky greenish-white color and refused to talk to anyone. So it comes as quite a shock when Kiara learns that the grandmother she never knew she had is expected to die at any moment.

Suddenly Kiara finds herself on a train heading for Baltimore - and her mother's secret past. There she meets Zenobia, the world's most stubborn grandmother, who is as eruptive as Mount Vesuvius. Kiara can't understand what Zenobia could possibly have against her - is it simply the fact that her skin is dark like mocha latte, while all her cousins are white? Or is there, as Kiara's mother keeps hinting, much more to the story?

Told from the point of view of a teenager with spot-on observations and hilarious insights, this is the story of three generations of stubborn - and charmingly funny - women.