Kalea is failing eighth grade. She lives on the South Side of Chicago and moves through her life day-to-day dealing with uncaring teachers, unhelpful police, and an unsupportive family. Then mysterious noises start to play in her ears-sounds from far away of a very different life. A life on the sea, with dreary sun-drenched days, howling storms, and the scourge of the Caribbean Sea, pirates! How is this strange connection to another place happening? What does it mean for Kalea and her life? And who is the exotic foreign girl on the other end of this connection?