The author's first published book, it centers around a girl genius named Millicent Min who attends high school in the fictional town of Rancho Rosetta, California.

In the companion books, Stanford Wong Flunks Big-Time and So Totally Emily Ebers, this situation is shown from the other children's points of view.

Millicent Min has skipped five grades, has won third place at the National Math Bowl, has appeared on Jeopardy, and been featured in PBS specials and TIME Magazine; now, she is looking forward to becoming senior valedictorian and earning a scholarship to an Ivy League university- at age 11.

In volleyball, Millicent expects to be ostracized by her peers for her intelligence once more when she befriends Emily, an outgoing girl who has recently moved from New Jersey.

As the end of summer approaches, Millicent says goodbye to her Grandmother at the airport and discovers her dad has received a job at RadioShack.