16-year-old Yiling Zhou-Barron just wants to keep her head down and succeed her way out of Sunnyville, where she's been bullied for years for her supposed crush on the resident alpha-girl. But when she accidentally follows her little brother Tian to Wuxia, a magical alt-world, all she wants is to get him back home. He's supposed to enjoy his life as Mr. Popular and die old of natural causes, not martyr himself in a clan feud that has nothing to with him. But his clan leader, the only person with the power to send them home, has completely different plans for the two of them. She even insists that Yiling belongs in Wuxia more than anyone. As much as Yiling wants to resist the Kool-Aid, the longer she stays in Wuxia, the more she begins to think the leader might be right. The other teens teach her magic, invite her to epic Chinese instrument jam sessions, and even cook her barbeque. And when the ice-magic-wielding, guqin-playing girl Yiling can't help but crush on falls for her-poetry-reciting, ADHD'ed her!-Yiling finds belonging within herself for the first time. When Yiling then learns shocking family secrets that upend both her worlds, she fully loses her compass for what is right for her and Tian. Where is home and who is her family, really? Which world will Yiling choose when safety of the body is not safety of the heart?