In a predominately white California beach town, the only two black seventh-graders, Alberta and Edie, find hidden journals that uncover family secrets and speak to race relations in the past.

Despite her parents' divorce, her father's coming out as gay, and his plans to marry his boyfriend, ten-year-old Bea is reassured by her parents' unconditional love, excited about getting a stepsister, and haunted by something she did last summer at her father's lake house.

Viv and her friends use one of Area 51's finicky time machines to bring back her long-lost father, but when their mission takes a dangerous turn, her dad's life and their own histories are put in jeopardy.