Liz Lightly has spent her entire life in the Indiana town in which her mom also grew up. Liz and her brother live with their grand parents because their mother died of sickle cell anemia, a condition that her brother also has. Her plan has always been to attend Pennington College (her mother's school), play in their orchestra, and become a doctor. Unfortunately, the scholarship she was counting on doesn't come through and Liz is left needing more to make her dreams happen.