The Zing family lives in a world of misguided spell books, singular poetry, and state-of-the-art surveillance equipment. They use these things to protect the Zing Family Secret -- one so huge that it draws the family to the garden shed for meetings every Friday night.

Into their world comes Listen Taylor, a socially isolated girl, about to enter junior high. Her father is dating a Zing, and she barely knows what she's getting into. Enter Cath Murphy, a young teacher at the elementary school that Cassie Zing attends, suffering from a broken heart. How will the worlds of these two young women connect with the delightful madness that is the family Zing?