In 1959, after her mother dies, twelve-year-old Ayumi, a violin prodigy, must leave her home in Japan. She crosses the Pacific Ocean alone to come live with a Caucasian father she’s never met, a resentful half-sister, and a racist stepmother. Ayumi wants to be accepted by her new family, but how much of her true self must she give up? Her only solace is her music, but when she is deprived of her violin, she feels like her mother has died all over again and shocks even herself by doing the unthinkable.