High school has ended and Shabnam Qureshi is facing a summer of loneliness and boredom. She's felt alienated from her gutsy best friend, Farah, ever since Farah started wearing the Muslim head scarf - without bothering to discuss it with Shabnam first. No one else comes close to understanding her, especially not her parents. All Shabman wants to do is get through the summer. Get to Penn, Begin anew. Not look back. Until she meets Jamie, who scores her a job at his aunt's pie shack and meets her there every afternoon. Shabnam sees Jamie and herself like the rose and the nightingale of classic Urdu poetry, which, according to her father, is the ultimate language of desire. Jamie finds Shabnam fascinating - her curls, her culture, even her awkwardness. Shabnam quickly finds herself in love. In her quest to figure out who she really is and what she really wants, Shabnam looks for help in an unexpected place, her family.