The last thing sixteen-year-old emily slovkowski wants is to move away from her home at the jersey shore, gorgeous surfer boyfriend zach, and her entire identity. but that's kind of how witness protection works, and em must prepare herself for an epic do-over as she starts a new life in the midwest. even as she pines for sandy beaches and the night life of the shore, the newly-named ember o'malley finds herself making new friends, taking photos for the high school newspaper, and thinking an awful lot about the paper's editor, an oddly cute cowboy named charles. when em stumbles upon a shady beneath-the-bleachers exchange between one of the school's football coaches and a student, she refuses to get involved. the last thing she needs is to be witness to another crime or call attention to herself. besides, she finally has some real friends - well, real except for the fact that they don't know a single thing about her - and she prefers to keep it that way until the trial. but as her day in court approaches, em begins piecing together what she saw that day beneath the bleachers. and, as her own past secrets start to catch up with her, em needs to figure out who she really is - em or em.