Fifth grader Pearl Jordan learns some difficult lessons about friendship when she befriends the odd, but artistically talented Artemesia, then shuns her in favor of the popular Lenore.
In 1963, Pearl, an eleven-year-old black girl in Fairfax, Virginia, learns about the real nature of friendship from the popular but untrustworthy Lenore, and Artemesia, a poor girl who moves into the neighborhood for a brief time.
