Valentina Hunter's parents think they've just hit the jackpot. When her mother invents a product that makes her family millionaires overnight, they buy a new house and new cars, and enroll their daughter in the ultra-exclusive Palm Lake private school.

The school comes with an excellent resume; more Palm Lake graduates go on to the Ivy League than any other private school in the area. Ninety percent of them start college with at least a year’s worth of Advanced Placement credits, and they earn more perfect ACT scores per capita than the students at any other high school.

Valentina’s mother and father are ecstatic, but Val doesn’t share the sentiment; she would rather go to the local public school with all her middle school friends. Events only increase her desire, as Valentina quickly finds herself embroiled in bitter social battles and hostile vendettas, leaving her to question whether she’ll even be able to survive the first month.