Olga is struck and killed by a semi-truck while crossing the street to catch a bus.

Amá shuts herself in her bedroom for two weeks after Olga's funeral, unable to clean or cook.

Amá announces she wants to throw Julia a quinceañera, saying she regrets never giving one to Olga.

Julia sneaks into Olga's room at night and discovers a hidden love note, hotel key, and lingerie.

Julia visits Angie to ask about Olga's secrets, but Angie deflects and tells Julia to leave.

Julia goes to the Continental hotel to ask about Olga but the receptionist refuses to share any information.

Julia reluctantly endures her quinceañera, and Amá afterward blames Julia for Olga's death.

Julia meets Connor at a used bookstore and they begin dating.

Julia finds the key to Olga's room hidden inside a box of frozen waffles in the freezer.

Amá finds Olga's hidden belongings in Julia's room, assumes they are Julia's, and punishes her.

Julia attempts suicide and Apa breaks through her locked bedroom door to take her to the hospital.

Dr. Cooke diagnoses Julia with severe depression, prescribes medication, and sets up an outpatient treatment plan.

Julia's parents decide to send her to Mexico to stay with her grandmother, Mama Jacinta.

Tia Fermina reveals that Amá was raped during the border crossing and Olga was born from that assault.

Julia receives a full scholarship to NYU and departs Chicago for college in New York City.

The novel opens with the sudden death of Julia's older sister Olga, whose loss throws the Reyes family into crisis and further strains Julia's already difficult relationship with her parents. Julia discovers hidden items in Olga's room that suggest Olga had a secret life, launching an obsessive search for the truth about her sister. As Julia's depression deepens under the weight of grief, family conflict, and impossible expectations, she attempts suicide and is hospitalized. With a treatment plan in place, Julia begins to heal, and her parents send her to Mexico, where she learns devastating secrets about her family's past. Returning to Chicago, Julia slowly mends her relationship with her parents and continues piecing together the truth about Olga. The story closes with Julia leaving for college in New York City, carrying both her grief and a hard-won understanding of everything her family has sacrificed.

The essential story of Julia's grief, secrets, breakdown, and escape.

Julia notices an unfamiliar man crying in the back of the room at Olga's wake.

Julia skips math class, takes the bus into the city, and spends the afternoon at the Art Institute.

Julia attends cousin Victor's birthday party where relatives criticize her for reading alone and her accented Spanish.

Julia has a nightmare in which Olga appears as a mermaid she cannot reach underwater.

Julia sneaks out with Lorena and Juanga to attend an adult masquerade party where she meets Olga's friend Jazmyn.

Julia helps Amá clean wealthy clients' houses and witnesses how exhausting and demeaning the work is.

Julia attends the school dance and the after-party, searching unsuccessfully for a woman who knew Olga.

Lorena and Julia argue during the class field trip when Lorena accuses Julia of thinking she is better than everyone.

Julia overhears her parents discussing using Olga's savings and life insurance to pay for the quinceañera.

Two men in a car harass Julia on her walk home from Lorena's; a neighbor steps out and drives them away.

Julia has sex with Connor for the first time at his house in Evanston while his parents are away.

Julia meets Esteban at a soccer game in Los Ojos and finds herself unexpectedly drawn to him.

Julia and Amá attend a weekly prayer group together where Julia tells the group she wants to see the world.

Julia accompanies Lorena to a clinic for a pregnancy test, which comes back negative.

Julia hands Apa his old drawing of Amá at the airport and asks him to start drawing again.

Alongside the novel's central crisis, Julia's life is filled with telling secondary moments — a stranger's tears at Olga's wake, solo trips to the Art Institute, and awkward family gatherings that highlight how isolated she feels. Her friendships with Lorena and Juanga, her brief encounters with strangers who knew Olga, and her summer cleaning houses with Amá all reveal the texture of her world and the depth of her need to escape it. Julia's first serious relationship with Connor brings joy but also uncomfortable reminders of the class divide separating them. Her time in Mexico introduces unexpected feelings through Esteban and a warmer sense of belonging among her extended family than she has ever felt at home. The story closes with small but meaningful acts of reconciliation, including Julia returning a piece of Apa's lost identity to him before boarding her flight.

The everyday moments, relationships, and small discoveries that shaped Julia's journey.

Lorena arrives at Olga's wake and is the only person able to comfort Julia.

Mr. Ingman checks in with Julia after English class and reassures her she had nothing to do with Olga's death.

Classmate Pasqual tells Julia during the Warren Dunes field trip that she should not hate herself so much.

Julia visits the community college records office for Olga's transcript; the worker's confused reaction hints something is wrong.

Julia and Lorena reconcile over pizza and Julia admits she hates her life most of the time, alarming Lorena.

Julia calls Jazmyn, who reveals Olga's mystery boyfriend had a good job, suggesting he was not Pedro.

Mr. Ingman meets weekly with Julia for college prep and encourages her to mention her parents' undocumented status in her essay.

Amá tears pages from Julia's journals, destroying the writing Julia considers her last remaining outlet.

Julia wakes in the hospital and Dr. Cooke tells her that her emotions are neither stupid nor a sign of weakness.

Julia meets Tasha in the outpatient therapy program and both admit they wonder if they will ever feel genuinely happy.

Julia finds the password to Olga's laptop on a receipt and discovers emails revealing Olga's affair with a married man.

Mama Jacinta shows Julia an old drawing and reveals that Apa was the beloved town artist before leaving Mexico.

Masked armed men interrupt cousin Paulina's birthday party and Tio Chucho hands one of them a bribe to make them leave.

Julia reads Olga's final email and discovers that Olga was pregnant at the time of her death.

Julia confronts Dr. Castillo outside his office; he insists he loved Olga and gives Julia the ultrasound photo.

This pool follows the chain of discoveries and emotional shifts that fundamentally alter Julia's understanding of herself and her family. From a teacher's quiet reassurance to a records worker's suspicious hesitation, small moments accumulate toward larger revelations about the sister Julia thought she knew. Julia's mental health crisis is precipitated by a series of escalating losses — her journals, her writing, her sense of purpose — and her recovery truly begins when a doctor finally helps her feel that her emotions are not a weakness. In Mexico, family secrets unravel one by one, from Apa's abandoned artistry to the terrifying truth about Amá's border crossing and the cartel violence that still haunts the town her parents fled. Back in Chicago, Julia reads Olga's final email and then faces Olga's married lover directly, closing the circle of secrets she has spent two years chasing.