Sixteen-year-old Ayesha, stateless and illiterate, is reviled at the market selling fish for her family. A group blames her for dynamite fishing, which her family don't do. She grieves the death of her brother.
She joins a literacy class for young adults run by Sister Rosa. The Bible is the textbook, parables of Jesus. The multicultural students hold discussions, do good deeds and ask about waste at restaurants, hospital and farms.
Ayesha makes friends with Noor. She imagines conversations with Princess Ayesha. She has a relationship with Gideon. She takes meth, recovers, and experiences a pandemic and a Black Lives Matter march.
She befriends a Muslim drop-out, Jihad. She meets his jihadist friends. After she breaks up with Gideon, she starts a relationship with Chris, but how will things work out?.
She is kidnapped by jihadists who want a separate state, and held hostage for a ransom at their camp. The army goes to rescue her.