It turns out escaping a virus is a lot harder than you think. Ten-year-old Knox Wei-Evans never expected to have to move countries in two days. But when the coronavirus hits Hong Kong, his mom makes the last-minute decision to move him and his siblings back to California, where they think they will be safe from the virus. Except his dad - Knox's best friend--has to stay behind to work. And his older brother Bowen would rather share a room with a mosquito than with Knox. At his new school in California, Knox struggles with being the new kid. The other kids think that because he's from Asia, he must have brought over the virus. At home, Mom's freaking out over their loss of health insurance, since she just got fired, and Dad doesn't know when he'll see them all again, since the flights have been cancelled.

And everyone struggles with Knox's blurting-things-out problem. As racism skyrockets during COVID, Knox tries to stand up to hate, while finding his place in his new country. Can you belong if you're feared, and can you protect even if you're new? And how do you keep a family together when you're oceans apart? Based on her own lived experience, New York Times bestselling author Kelly Yang spins a heart-warming tale of courage, hope and resilience in the face of unprecedented times. Sometimes when the world is spinning out of control, the best way to get through it is to embrace our own loveable uniqueness.