Thirteen-year-old Bilal Taimur was raised as a Muslim but is questioning his faith... as well as many other things that boys of his age often question. His middle-class parents were killed in a car wreck when he was ten, and he's been living with his devoutly Muslim grandfather in West Oakland, California, where he's learned the rules of inner city life... vastly different from life in the 'burbs. His best friend was murdered in a drive-by, and Bilal testified against the gang members, sending them to prison, and is now under a death sentence from the remainder of the gang. There is no witness protection for kids like Bilal, though a pair of good Oakland cops help him beyond the call of duty, and Bilal goes to live with his cousin - Quentin Tanner, also thirteen - in a small rural town in the Sacramento River Delta. Though less than two hours by bus from Oakland, it's like another planet to Bilal, and again he must learn to adapt and make friends in a strange new environment. Meanwhile, the gang find out where he is, but it's also an alien environment for them, where friends are really friends to the end.