Sheila Benderton: Young, White, former poor little rich girl, now just poor. She’ starting a new life in an inner city high school that is only 8% white school. She also faces life with a mother she barely knows. Her father blamed her mother’s repeated infidelities for everything that went wrong in their family, including his recent suicide. After that, Sheila will never let herself fall under the spell of a guy like Julian Morales, the Hispanic superjock playboy.

Neill Mallory: Young, Black, Gay. His future has been set in stone by a loving family, whether he wants it or not. He’s a walking statistic struggling with the loss of the perfect boyfriend. Carl Redkin gave in to pressure from his parents and dumped Neill in an attempt to go “straight.” Neill hates being alone and wants to replace Carl with someone just like him; someone smart, artistic, caring—why kid himself, there is no one like Carl.

Neill and Sheila seem to have nothing in common except the French class her mother teaches. But invisible ties draw the two outliers together. Maybe it’s the way Neill tries to protect Sheila from Julian’s magnetism. Or the way Sheila fights to get Carl’s family to let him be the man he wants to be. Neill and Sheila try everything to make life happy, including each other. But what they really need is Carl and Julian.