Felita has Puerto Rican heritage, despite the fact that she has never lived there. One summer, her parents decide that she is to spend the summer in Puerto Rico, instead of staying in New York. The first half of the story explores how Felita deals with her background and culture while living in America. The second half of the story chronicles the attitudes that some of the Puerto Rican children have towards Felita when she joins them at their summer camp.
I thought that the novel touched on some important topics, but also ignored others. One thing that I would have liked the author to have explored more, however, was the relationship between Felita and her uncle. Felita rarely treated Tio Jorge with much respect, and there seemed to be more of a story there than was shared.