Tess Whistle is a high school junior with ridiculous problems. Her best friend is plotting the annihilation of a neighborhood poodle. Her parents are newly-born-again Christians who just moved to a survivalist Outward Bound- type camp in Utah. And Tess is about to lose her virginity-under a canoe-to her serious boyfriend, Ben Easter.

Luckily, none of these dramatic turns spell catastrophe. Because Tess Whistle is a high school junior who is about to discover that, ridiculous as her life may seem, she is finding out exactly who it is she wants to be.