Leah's mother has left her. After years of living with her mum and her younger half-sister Anne, to whom she is close, Leah is suddenly told by her dad that she is now to live with him and his wife Gail. Mum has swanned off to California with new boyfriend and Anne in tow, and Leah is devastated, particularly because there has been no warning. She refuses to accept what has happened, even writing letters to her mum, letters that can never be posted because she has no address. Her psychologist dad is loving but can't talk to her without using psychobabble, and Gail tries almost too hard. When Leah makes friends with Will, another outsider at her new school, she is finally able to talk about her troubles. It turns out that her real mum had died years before, and that her stepmother is the one who left her, taking Anne. Leah had always been afraid of her stepmother's rejection. The layers have to be peeled back painfully from Leah's story, and it is Will who helps her do so. They both become involved in the school play, which also helps them work things through. Leah's emotions are raw, and she doesn't make life easy for her dad and Gail, but she is finally able to believe that she has found her real place - her home.