Fourteen-year-old Emily Lindstrom is a budding violinist with dreams of becoming a concert performer. While her friends are away at camp for the summer, she dedicates her time to preparing for an important audition. Meanwhile, Emily runs a successful local business, charging 50 cents to keep people’s secrets. Her mother is heavily pregnant, and Emily feels her parents are more focused on the impending arrival of the new baby than on her own pursuits. When a new family moves in next door, Emily befriends their 12-year-old son, Philip. As time goes on, the burden of the secrets she holds—her own, those she keeps for others, and one that Philip confides in her—becomes overwhelming, leading to a temporary upheaval in her life.