How Not to Cry in Public & Other Victories

When Brenna Walker suffers a devastating emancipation her senior year of high school, she sets off on an undercover search for her missing relatives. Over a series of visits with her mother Brenna asks the name of her birth father and why her uncle raised her. Meanwhile, hoping her mother will help her, Brenna continues the hunt for family members, arranging to meet them incognito so as to ascertain why her uncle didn't want her to know them, or if he didn't want them to know her. When the evidence doesn't add up, and without a reliable guide, Brenna makes mistakes in judgment that cost her dearly. During the year's journey, a handful of temporary jobs, some amazing cousins, and a summer romance take her to an explosive family reunion where she sees all their true colors.