Join Patricia - a thirteen-year-old girl - as she arrives with her family in Irapuato, Guanajuato, Mexico. Wave goodbye with her and her abuelita (grandma) as her family is driven to the airport in Mexico City to return to their hometown of Springfield, Illinois. Start her first year of Mexican high school (secundaria) with her. Listen with her to Spanish but speak only English for several months, and then "burst out" in a miracle of Spanish fluency, startling everyone, including herself. Question and wonder and grow with her as she changes from a skinny, scared and angry little girl to a confident, funny and happy young woman.Extremely shy and introverted as a child, Patricia spent much of her time reading to escape notice by her Mexican mother, who scolded her at every opportunity. When the plan for her to spend a year in Mexico materialized, she was certain she had died and gone to heaven. Spending that year with fun, funny, loving, wonderful grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins in warm, sunny Mexico fulfilled every wish the sad young girl had ever dreamed of. She didn't want to leave her beloved Mexico when it was time to return "home." Home was now Mexico.Smile ingratiatingly with her at an immigration officer who might "condemn" her to stay in Mexico forever because her US citizen visa is expired. Sigh in resignation with her as she realizes she "is allowed to leave" Mexico after all. Fly to Texas with her and her mother, saying nothing at all to each other. Sit in the car with her as her American uncle drives Patricia and her mother practically nonstop from San Antonio to Springfield. Greet her father and siblings with her as she joyfully reunites with them. Celebrate with her the wondrous changes she has undergone during the pivotal year of her life - one that gave her endless possibilities for her future.