Everyone has trauma, but the clique just set it aside, like last seasons' purse. That's what they say anyway, but Carlie's not buying it. After earning expulsion from Harvard, she has no choice but to go to Marten Ranch Academy-an alternative junior college for rich misfits like her. Expecting to swap stories about their messed-up parents and wild parties in Ibiza, Carlie is stunned to find kind, inclusive people that have no business calling themselves "misfits." Instead, they are the clique, and claim they owe everything to the "sanctuary." At least there's one other normal person at this place-Estella, the goth girl obsessed with the occult. Carlie quickly befriends her. But when a professor disappears, and the school is forced to go on an early winter break as a result, Carlie gets a strange call from an inconsolable Estella. Something happened, something too terrible to speak of-she'll tell Carlie everything when they return to campus ... she needs sanctuary. Worried out of her mind, Carlie rushes back to Marten Ranch to meet Estella ... only to find Estella changed. Happy. Content. Optimistic. Goodbye black lipstick, hello pastels.
Estella is now part of the clique, and Carlie is willing to bet it has something to do with this mysterious "sanctuary. Determined to get her friend back, Carlie realizes she has to dive deep into the ranch's history to uncover its mysteries, and figure out what's going on-fast. Because now Carlie is the only true "misfit" left, and fears she'll be the next person turned into a Stepford student-losing who she is, and herself, forever.