When Letty Marquez discovers an elegant-but-decrepit Victorian mansion not far from school, she and her friends decide to keep it a secret and make it their own. As the Vietnam war escalates, and the nation reels from protests, riots, and a drug epidemic, Letty and her friends pit themselves against forces that want the land beneath the house. At the same time, boys, friends, and permissive American culture clash constantly with Letty’s Mexican upbringing and her Catholic religion. By the time the fate of the fine old house is sealed, Letty has come of age and has come to terms with her foreign culture and growing up in the United States.