13-year-old Luna lives in a small town on the coast of Tuscany. She is smart and funny. And she is albino. When her brother Luca drowns in a surfing accident, Luna's mother retreats into herself. At school, stricken by her loss, Luna makes a new friend, the eccentric Zot, a boy from Chernobyl. Luna believes that Luca still speaks to her through a whale bone washed up on the shore. In truth, this is a ruse by Luca's former teacher, as a misguided way to assuage the guilt he carries with him. Luna's fantasies clash with the lies of the adult world in this touching, novel.