When questions pop into nine-year-old Isla Delgado's mind, they mash together like plantains and turn into a mangú. So when Mami tells her she has to stay with her dad and new wife for six months, The Curse of the Evil Ring movie-a movie she isn't supposed to watch-and memories of her first S-Mom-memories she told her parents she didn't have-mash together to create the spookiest mangú. Soon Isla figures out that to survive her dad's house, she will need to answer two questions: is there truth in fiction? And does she have the guts to tell Papi and Mami everything she remembers and finally stand up for herself?