Life is smoothest for thirteen-year-old Ellie when she keeps her opinions to herself, gets good grades and speaks carefully when her parents ask her to settle their arguments. She feels guilty
that she welcomes the chance to spend the summer in another city with her mother's older sister, Jeanette. Ellie makes a new friend and learns to play an Argentine instrument called the
bandone籀n, which she finds in her aunt's basement. When she goes searching for the bandone籀n's original owner, she discovers a story of political intrigue and family secrets that help her start
to figure out where her parents end and she begins.