Although Izzy would like to think that since her father moved back to Cincinnati, her parents might be getting along better, she overhears heated telephone conversations about the amount of time she is spending with each parent. That indicates to her significant “territorial” issues. She is aware of the differences between her parents and the lifestyles their homes offer her.

Under her father’s direction, to prepare Izzy for an upcoming piano recital, Izzy begins piano lessons with an accomplished and formidable pianist, Madame Rubenstein, from the Music Conservatory at the University of Cincinnati. The sessions are rigorous, the practice schedule demanding. Izzy, however, responds enthusiastically.

In school, Izzy’s English/history teacher, Mr. Kazilly, introduces the class to the difficult subject of school shootings to encourage the students to think about the responsibility they have to protest for safe schools. He connects the discussion to the civil rights movement and the importance of protest to achieve social justice. When the discussion turns to the darker moments in America’s long and difficult struggle to accord Black people civil rights, one white student, Logan Lindquist, makes a snide remark about lynching, suggesting it is something harmless that he has seen in dozens of Westerns. Izzy’s friend Imani is incensed, and she immediately tells Mr.