Meena Joshi writes her first letter to River Dean Justice, her new pen pal in Kentucky. She lives in Chinatown, NY, but she grew up in a mountain town in India called Mussoorie. Meena has a 17-year-old brother named Karan, nicknamed Kiku. She is 12 years old, loves to read, and describes herself as “short and skinny” (3), although she wants to be pretty like Kiku’s secret girlfriend, Ana Maria. Meena’s parents and brother came to America when Meena was three years old, but she was left behind with her grandmother, who she calls Dadi. She came to join her family in New York three years ago, when she was nine, but she had to leave Dadi in India. When Meena arrived at the airport, she didn’t even know what her parents looked like because they had been apart for so long.

Meena’s parents are beginning the difficult and time-consuming process to become American citizens. Mum works as a nanny, and Daddy works at a catering hall in New Jersey. Since he works so far away, he only comes home one weekend per month, and his absence is difficult for Meena, her mum, and Kiku.