 Caterina, who loves music, moves at 12 from the sticks to Rome where her parents must care for an invalid aunt. At school, her simple and direct ways make her appealing to two cliques: one led by Margherita, the Bohemian daughter of leftist intellectuals, and the other headed by the preppy Daniela, daughter of one of Berlusconi s ministers. Caterina s navigating a new city, a new school, new friends, the onset of puberty, and the cross-cutting politics of wealth, class, and ideology in Rome is complicated by her parents, each profoundly unhappy. What hope is there for someone who doesn t play the game?