Content Warning: This section includes discussion of racial discrimination, ableism, pet death, and grief.

Julia Marks, the protagonist, is a young girl who has often heard that she is short as if it were a problem that needed to be fixed. In response, Julia decided early on in life to stop using the word “short” altogether.

It is currently the beginning of summer and seven weeks after Julia’s dog, Ramon, passed away suddenly of heart disease. Julia misses Ramon terribly and has kept his collar on her nightstand. Also, there is a wooden carving of Ramon that her uncle, Jack, made for her several years ago. Julia’s parents are concerned about her grief over Ramon, and they try to help her move past it with sayings like, “Time heals all wounds” (6), but Julia still wakes up every morning thinking about Ramon, expecting to see him in all his old haunts around the house.

This summer, Julia wants to move on from Ramon’s death and to get over worrying about her height. Her friends Kaylee and Piper are both out of town, so she’s moping around the house. Her mother, noticing this, sends her with her little brother, Randy, to audition for a play at a local university.