12-year-old Pavi Sharma is an expert at the "front door face": the perfect mix of puppy dog eyes and a lemonade smile, the exact combination to put foster parents at ease as they open their front door to welcome you in. After four foster families and two shelter stays, Pavi is a foster care expert, and runs a "business" teaching other foster kids all she has gleaned. With a wonderful foster family in mom Marjorie and brother Hamilton, things are on the upswing for the industrious Pavi.

Then during a visit to her old group home, Pavi meets Meridee: a new five-year-old foster kid, who is getting placed at Pavi's first horrendous foster home. Pavi knows no one will listen to a kid, so she makes it her responsibility to save Meridee.

With help from brooding eigth grader Santos, Hamilton, and his somewhat obnoxious BFF Piper, this rag-tag group will set off on an important mission to keep Meridee from the home that haunts Pavi's nightmares.