In a predominately white California beach town, the only two black seventh-graders, Alberta and Edie, find hidden journals that uncover family secrets and speak to race relations in the past.

Dad has posted a list of chores for the family to do before grandma comes, including bathing the cat; but the cat does not want a bath, so she mixes up the instructions, and soon the family is mowing the floor, vacuuming the lawn, mopping the baby--and the house is in chaos.