When Iranian-American Kamran Smith learns that his big brother, Darius, has been labeled a terrorist, he sets out to piece together the codes and clues that will save his brother's life and his country from a deadly terrorist attack.

Colonel Behrani is a once-wealthy Iranian immigrant who struggles for dignity while working low-wage jobs in America. Kathy Nicolo is a troubled young house cleaner striving to put her life in order. When Kathy's house is mistakenly put up for public auction--and Behrani risks the last of his family fortune to buy it--the two become enmeshed in a desperate conflict.

When her best friend's cancer returns in the summer of 1987, none of her usual pursuits--surfing, singing, or reading poetry--can keep thirteen-year-old Ava afloat.