At the beginning of the series, Dana Lewis is a student at St. Sebastian's, an all-boys Catholic school, in the class of 2017.
The problem is that Dana is a girl. She has always felt like a girl, even when everyone else thinks she's a boy and treats her like one. When Michelle Hall comes to speak at St. Seb's in the role of Poet Laureate of Massachusetts, she senses a kindred spirit in Dana and encourages Dana, quite the writer herself, to apply to The Academy for her sophomore year and beyond.
The two become lifelong friends and plan to collaborate on a writing project in the future.