The novel starts with Mia’s family sharing a pancake breakfast on a snowy Oregon morning. Because of the snow, school has been canceled; this is a source of great joy and excitement, since it means the entire family is free to spend the day together. Mia’s family is both eccentric and tight-knit. Her father is a former musician turned English teacher, and both of her parents are former punk-rockers. Her brother, Teddy, is an imaginative and cheerful 7-year old, excited at the prospect of building snow men on this rare snow day in Oregon. While the family sit around the breakfast table, they discuss Mia’s boyfriend, Adam, whose band, Shooting Star is playing a gig in Seattle, and the possibility that Mia will be accepted into Julliard as a cellist. 

Thoughts of Julliard make Mia recall how she started playing the cello. Though Mia and her family share a tight, loving bond, she is very different from both of her parents. Although she started out wanting to be a rocker like them, her first instrument—the drums—did not stick, and it was not until she was introduced to the cello that she became hooked on a completely different

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