Charlie is a sophomore in high school who lives in the suburbs of Ohio. The child of newly divorced parents, she lives with her father after he wins the custody battle. Under his care, Charlie is enrolled in nightly sign language classes and admitted to River Valley, a boarding school for Deaf students. The decision to live with her father is likely the result of her tense relationship with her mother, who views Charlie’s deafness as a defect.

Having spent her entire life in a mainstream educational setting, Charlie’s entrance into River Valley marks a major turning point in her life. With that significant life change come new challenges, almost none of which Charlie is prepared to manage. Despite a rocky start to her new life, over time Charlie begins to acclimate to her new circumstances at home and at school.

Perhaps the most prominent catalyst for her overall life improvement is Charlie’s sign language education. Though she struggles to acclimate to her new school setting at first—embarrassed about her lack of ASL knowledge and worried about how she might progress—Charlie improves significantly mere weeks into the school year. Her eagerness to learn sign language proves extremely useful, as “with each successful social interaction, Charlie accrued new slivers of self-confidence” (172).