A promise from the past...a hope for today...

Fourteen-year-old Allison O'Brian has never known what it's like to have a real family. Her mother, a popular and glamorous movie star, is more interested in her soaring career than in her daughter, hiding Allison away at boarding school much of the year. What's worse, Allison has no memory of her dead father, and her mother absolutely refuses to talk about him.

Then in the summer of 1948, Allison is told that she must attend summer camp while her mother is out of the country. Dreading her fate, Allison devises a plan to escape to New York City and wait out the summer in her mother's now-empty penthouse. But while there, Allison uncovers some disturbing information. A letter from a grandfather she didn't know existed inspires her to unlock the mystery of her past. Will she finally find the love of a family she has always dreamed about?