Grace can't wait to be at the top of the grade-school heap-especially since she's dealing with loss at home. Her father's away in Antarctica, her mother's still angry with Grace's Dad for leaving, and Grampa's losing his memory. But even sixth grade starts to feel like life stinks. Grace discovers she's not in the same home room with her best friend. New girl Kiki moves onto the scene and starts acting like the boss of the whole sixth grade. And the handsome new teacher seems way too interested in Grace's mother. Grace agrees to be a candidate for class president only to stop Kiki from winning. She regrets accepting Kiki's bet that if Kiki wins the election, she gets to tell Grace what to do for the whole school year. It takes some inspiration from her school project about René Descartes and his "I think, therefore I am" beliefs to help Grace keep her sixth-grade experience from totally going down the toilet.