Just like any teenage girl Josephine Alibrandi is having a hard time dealing with her life. With her mother being Italian and her father being Australian she is finding it difficult to fit in. In one short year Josephine (Jossie for short) meets her father Michael Andretti and falls in love with a boy, Jacob Coote who is going to be her first "true love".
Jacob's mother passed away so Jacob lives only with his father. Jossie is afraid to introduce Jacob to her family not only because of his nationality but because he doesn't go out of his way to impress.
When Jossie meets her father for the first time she could not stand the sight of him. She couldn't understand why he never contacted her or her mother to see if they needed anything or just to be a father figure. But as the year went on Jossie and her father became very close and understood their feelings for each other.
This is Josephine's last year at St. Martha's catholic school, which means the HSC (the higher school certificate) is coming up. Jossie has a huge responsibility as she's vice captain of the school. About half way through the year Sister Louise (principle) told Jossie she was awarded school captain but because Sister Louise didn't think Jossie would be responsible enough for captain she gave it to someone else. .
John Barton was one of Jossie's friends. He was very smart and come from a very wealthy family. His father put a lot of pressure on him and had planned his future for him not considering what John wanted. The morning of the HSC Jossie walked down the corridor when she noticed Ivy (school captain) sitting on the floor crying, Jossie asked what was the matter just thinking she was upset over the HSC, "John's dead. John Barton is dead!" Josephine couldn't understand why. "He killed himself." Ivy said. Jossie started to shake, holding Ivy's shoulders and shaking her back and forwards shouting "Don't be stupid, who told you this lie?" That night Jossie remembered about a piece of paper with Johns thoughts in it that they had written a few months before the HSC that they were going to open after it.