Maggie's 16th birthday turns out to be very different from what she expected. As the stand-in housekeeper/mother of the family since her mom's suicide when she was four, Maggie is the one who diligently cares for her dad and two brothers. Aggravating and thankless though it is, Maggie's identity has always been wrapped up in her role as the family caretaker. Cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and even shopping for the best deal when they need a new washer all falls under her domain.

Considering how inattentive the guys in the family have always been, Maggie isn't expecting much on her special day. For once she misjudges them. Maggie's dad gives her a prized Claddagh necklace and her mother's ring, along with tender expressions of his love and appreciation for her. Even her little brother Billy remembers her with a handmade card. Receiving another card from her grandmother, a neighbor's birthday cookie and a brand new shirt from her best friend makes Maggie feels like she’s won the jackpot. She makes a bold wish, more like a pleading prayer, that God will help her become popular and pretty and that a special boy will notice her. She doesn't want to be invisible any longer.

Before she knows it, Maggie is almost wishing she could take back her prayer for popularity and become "invisible" again. She gets attention --- the creepy kind --- from the father of one of Billy's close friends. She finds herself in constant angst and conflict when her dad brings home a girlfriend who attempts to take over her position in the family as the female caretaker. And then Maggie is thrust into the limelight after she rescues a classmate who has been stabbed and raped.

Suddenly, Maggie is front and center of everyone as she takes on the role of guardian to the victim. All at once, the popular kids befriend her, the cute boys ask her out and she feels overwhelmed as her entire life shifts and then resettles into a new kind of normal. Meanwhile, an investigation is underway to locate the assailant, and Maggie discovers her own troubling evidence of sexual abuse of another kind in her midst.

Every day Maggie is pushed to redefine her beliefs and values under the microscope of chaotic circumstances and changes, but she stands firm despite inner and outer pressure to conform and comes into her own stronger and more grounded than ever before.

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