When a ghost shows up at the threshold to Ferris's grandmother Charisse's room, Ferris worries that she's there to take Charisse to the Great Beyond. But Charisse says that the ghost has something else in mind--something unpredictable, a task that's impractical and illuminating. But how can Ferris focus on completing an assignment for a ghost when her little sister is terrorizing the town, her uncle keeps sending her to spy on her aunt, and the house...

Thirteen-year-old Genesis tries again and again to lighten her black skin, thinking it is the root of her family's troubles, before discovering reasons to love herself as is.