What would you expect from a girl named Malice? At twelve, her definition of family is nixed when her father, Rick, reveals that he is gay and leaves home. Ruth, her emotionally distant mother, punishes Rick by delivering Malice at midnight ("like some ding-dong ditch it game") on the doorstep of the house he shares with his lover, Grey. Disillusioned by her parents' separation, and her religion, Malice sculpts a private world, out of-of all things-chewed gum. How does Malice deal with becoming a woman in a household of men?