LIA is twelve—and life’s not easy. Ever since her mother died in a motorcycle accident, her father CHRIS has been trying to distract her—but grief doesn’t just disappear because you want it to. While he avoids any real emotional confrontation, Lia retreats into a world of her own.

Things get even worse when he decides that they will be moving to Vienna to live with his new girlfriend, SONJA. On the day of the move, Lia steals her mother’s urn from the cemetery and keeps it as her most treasured secret. But Vienna is nothing like home. Their new place? A housing complex on the outskirts of the city. Her new stepmother? An overly pedagogical music teacher at her new school. And her new “stepsister”? PAULINE, 15, who has Down syndrome, is way too direct for Lia’s liking.

Lia decides to fight back. Her mission? To get back to Zurich! And if that means manipulating Pauline, testing Sonja’s patience, and pushing her father to the edge – so be it. But then she stumbles into the world of LUIS, her energetic seatmate, who plays the drums outrageously well and isn’t easily impressed by her. Still, Lia has a unique gift: she hears rhythm where others only hear noise.

In Luis’s grandmother RENITA, Lia also finds something she hadn’t expected: someone who truly sees her. And for the first time, she’s able to talk to an adult about death.

Just when she starts bonding with Pauline and feels ready to give this new life a chance, the next bombshell drops: Chris and Sonja want to get married. Betrayal! In a fit of rage, Lia injures Sonja’s hand, and the situation spins out of control.

A forbidden nighttime adventure – during which Lia and Pauline lose each other – shakes up the dynamic of their patchwork family once again. Chris finally realizes that his desperate push for a “fresh start” in Vienna has overwhelmed Lia. He decides to call the whole thing off.

It is only then that Lia realizes how much her new life has come to mean to her.