When Katy Ratner discovers she'll be spending two weeks of her summer with her father, The Rat, instead of in Peru with her mother, she's not happy about it. But she figures she can deal.

Shortly after arriving at the airport she changes her mind. Upon arrival at the Rat's apartment she knows she can't do this. Mess, everywhere. Her room, she can tell he tried with her room. Except it's still not her. She pleads with her mother via text messages, but apparently her seriousness has such an edge to it that it comes across as a joke. She doesn't know how to point out the mistake.

Then comes an even bigger kick in the face. Her two weeks are actually going to be the whole summer. Her mother's on to something in Peru. Something huge. And she wants to stay. Katy wants to be there, be part of the team she's always been included in. But she doesn't say that either.

And so it is. She's stuck in California, looking and feeling out of place, trying to understand this world of people for whom music is everything. For her, music is mostly just noise. Or a good background. If it's the right music. Which makes staying with her drummer father a real dilemma. And being baby-sat by the bribed daughter of the Rat's band-mate, Sam Suck, more of a dilemma. Even Garth Skater, pretty enough to be a girl without his helmet on, gets it. He promises to make her a mix CD, by way of introduction to the scene.

True to his word, he delivers the CD while Lake is visiting. Katy isn't interested until Lake points out that it's actually a good mix. Then it starts to seem worth it.

Slowly, Katy starts to feel less Beige...or at least that Beige isn't a bad thing to be. She starts to understand her dad. And his girlfriend, Trixie, proves to be a good friend. Even Lake isn't all hardness, like she seems. And even music starts to make its own kind of sense.

As summer draws to a close, leaving Beige with one more huge obstacle and disappointment to get through, she knows she can do it. It really will be OK. She has a place in this world, and she doesn't have to take it quietly. Maybe she is her father's daughter; and that's not a bad thing to be.