The calm in Paula's life is shattered the summer she discovers the pile of letters her mother has written to her grandmother. The life her mother describes in the letters is unrecognizable: she says her sister Elisabet did well on her exams, when in fact she failed them; she says Elisabet sang a solo in the Christmas recital, which she didn't; and she says her father has been promoted to head of her office. Paula is barely mentioned. Her mother's pretense shocks Paula, who is now surrounded by lies invented by an adult. How should she relate to her mother? Who can she possibly be in the family now? Paula is about to become a teenager, and the world opens up before her as a place both terrible and wonderful.