Melody's mother died shortly after Melody was born, and compared to the remarkable person her mother was according to her father's stories, 10-year-old Melody feels completely unremarkable, so when Melody discovers she'll be getting a new stepmother soon, the one birthday wish she has, to have a talk with her mother, may just result in her receiving the most important birthday gift of all.

In Dakota Territory in the 1880s, half-Chinese Hanna and her white father face racism and resistance to change as they try to make a home for themselves.