Recognizing that their dullard daughter, Carley, needs an academic boost, Gretchen and Francis Wells hire author Bree McEnroy to write a book to Carley's specifications--but Carley isn't as ignorant as her parents and teachers believe. Her desire to pull her best friend out of his self-loathing, drunken state eventually convince Carley to give words a chance and to reassert that it's not about books or reading, after all, but about people and relationships.