In the tumult of 1970s New York City, seventh graders are bussed from
their neighborhood in Queens to integrate a new school in South
Jamaica.
Jamila Clarke. Josie Rivera. Francesca George. Three mixed-race girls,
close friends whose immigrant parents worked hard to settle their
families in a neighborhood with the best schools. The three girls are
outsiders there, but they have each other.
Now, at the start seventh grade, they are told they will be part of an
experiment, taking a long bus ride to a brand-new school built to mix up
the black and white kids. Their parents don't want them to be
experiments. Francesca's send her to a private school, leaving Jamila
and Josie to take the bus ride without her.
While Francesca is testing her limits, Josie and Jamila find themselves
outsiders again at the new school. As the year goes on, the Spanish
girls welcome Josie, while Jamila develops a tender friendship with a
boy--but it's a relationship that can exist only at school.